An active phase of the intraseasonal oscillation late in December and early January resulted in the formation of five cyclones: Sid, Selwyn, Ron, Susan and Katrina, across the Australian and southwest Pacific Ocean tropical cyclone basins
An active phase of the intraseasonal oscillation late in December and early January resulted in the formation of five cyclones: Sid, Selwyn, Ron, Susan and Katrina, across the Australian and southwest Pacific Ocean tropical cyclone basins. Sid was the first of these to develop as a cross-equatorial surge resulted in the formation of the monsoon trough near northern Australia. Sid developed very close to the Northern Territory's north coast near Darwin before moving east along the coast, then south into the Gulf of Carpentaria before decaying. The remnant low produced record and devastating flooding two weeks later around Townsville in North Queensland.
A low pressure system over the northwest of the Northern Territory moved just offshore into the Timor Sea. Interaction with monsoon westerlies then steered the low eastward along the coast with Sid forming on 26 December in the Arafura Sea, 70 km from the Northern Territory coast. Further intensification was restricted by the proximity to the coast. The cyclone reached the edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria on 27 December after passing close to the town of Nhulunbuy. It then took a south-southeast course into the Gulf of Carpentaria as the system came under the influence of a high amplitude mi