Severe Weather in the Solomon Islands

Tornadoes form from intense thunderstorms. From the ground, a rotating body of air forms because of vertical wind shear. This rotating air is then lifted off the ground because of the updraft of a thunderstorm. It is considered a mesocyclone once the rotating air mass is lifted nearly vertically. A mesocyclone is fully developed in the updraft of the thunderstorm. Inside, the rotation gets faster and forms a funnel cloud. Once it touches the ground, it is then considered a tornado. In the U.S, tornadoes typically travel from west to east. They travel from west to east because of the upper level jet stream moves from west to east which they follow. Tornadoes can happen in the Solomon Islands. One happened in 2008 which left 200 people homeless. In the U.S, an average of over 1,000 tornadoes happen yearly (NDCC).

My country is located near Australia which experiences some tornadoes, but they don't really reach my country. Tornado occurrences may have looked to increase over time, but I think that may not be true because the scale used back then was slightly different than the one used today.


Hurricanes form from three things: consistent heating of the surface, high humidities, and cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. These things can happen in the Solomon Islands and they are called tropical cyclones instead of hurricanes in this region. In the Atlantic and East Pacific region, they are called hurricanes. In the Indian Ocean near Australia they are called cyclones. Off the coast of China and Indonesia, they are called typhoons.

Hurricanes usually travel from east to west in the U.S. because of the easterly winds called the trade winds, which steer the hurricane westward. Hurricanes do happen in my country and they're called cyclones. The worst one to hit the Solomon Islands was Cyclone Namu in 1986, which was responsible for about 150 deaths. The average number of hurricanes that hit the U.S per year is 1.75 from a table in 2001 (AOML).   

Daily Weather in the Solomon Islands

The Capital City of the Solomon Islands is Honiara, on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal Island. My three day forecast will cover the following days: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For Tuesday, the forecasted high is 87°F and the low is 76°F with a 100% chance of precipitation. On Wednesday, the forecasted high is 87°F and the low is 75°F with a 100% chance of precipitation. On Thursday, the forecasted high is 89°F and the low is 75°F with a 90% chance of precipitation. The average pressure over the course of these three days is 29.8 inches. The pressure stayed the same over the three day period. The average wind speed over these three days was 3 mph. The wind speed decreased over the three day period.

From the satellite image above, in the capital city of the Solomon Islands there is white and grey clouds covering the island of Guadalcanal. There is not any precipitation in the capital city but there's light rain on the eastern side of the island. The island is mostly mountains with a small river and lake near Honiara. 

Near my country, there's a low pressure system compared to the high pressure systems near Australia. Th lowest pressure is 1008 mb which is closest to my country. The highest pressure is 1028 mb which is located southwest of Australia.  There's not really much going on in these two maps, but there's a cold front on the southern side of Australia.