By Tuesday afternoon, the life cycle of Tropical Cyclone Sean was over. As expected, the storm stayed well offshore and its impacts for the Pilbara Region were limited.
The outer rain bands did in fact sweep across the coastline but at least a direct impact was avoided. Generally, the centre of the storm only came within approximately 150 to 160 km of the coastline.
Notwithstanding this, there were some significant rainfall figures recorded as well some strong to powerful wind gusts. As a result, low lying flooding has occurred but mainly coastal. However, given that only the coastline was affected, major riverine flooding was avoided because the rainfall never penetrated deep inland and into the river catchments. For the most part, much of the Pilbara region missed out on any significant rainfall.
The table below provides some idea of the rainfall totals and strongest known wind gusts to 9 am Monday morning.
| Town or locality | Rainfall | Peak wind gusts |
| Barrow Island | 146 mm | 113 km/h |
| Karratha | 274.4 mm (A new daily record for the town). | 104 km/h |
| Learmonth | 33.8 mm | 102 km/h |
| Legendra | No figure | 119 km/h (Highest verified) |
| Mardie | 110.8 mm | |
| Roebourne Airport | 112.6 mm | 102 km/h |
| Onslow | 78 mm | 98 km/h |
Given that the core remained well offshore, the peak wind gusts will never be known. It is suggested that the storm may have had peak wind gusts briefly to 205 km/h however this cannot be proven. The storm has now weakened into a mid latitude depression following its demise during Tuesday.
At peak intensity –
- The storm skirted just above a Category 4 system under the Australian Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale of 1989 with possible peak wind gusts to 205 km/h at the core.
- The storm only reached a high end Category 3 system but may have reached a borderline Category 4 system under the Saffir Simpson Scale.
Note: The Australian Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale observes lower thresholds for such storms when compared to the Saffir Simpson Scale.
Feature image above
While not of Tropical Cyclone Sean, the image of an approaching thunderstorm provides a good sample of what the outer rain bands of the storm would have looked like for the coastal Pilbara region as it swept by.