Donna is the Most Powerful May Storm Ever...

[Mystic Wanderer]

Donna is the most powerful May storm ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere

Tropical Cyclone Donna, packing 120-mph winds, is bearing down on the French territory of New Caledonia in the south Pacific.
On Sunday, as its winds soared to 130 mph, Donna became the most powerful tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere in the month of May, according to Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach.

As of midday Monday U.S. time, the storm was the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale and was moving to the southeast at 9 mph. Tropical cyclones are the same types of storms as hurricanes or typhoons.

By Tuesday into Wednesday, local time, the center of Donna should pass near New Caledonia, bringing flooding rain, possible landslides, coastal flooding and damaging winds, the Weather Channel warned.

Schools in New Caledonia were closed for a public holiday on Monday and would stay shut on Tuesday, Reuters said.

New Caledonia is more than 1,000 miles east of Australia.

Late last week, Donna downed trees and destroyed a church and many homes as it barreled through Vanuatu's far northern province of Torba, World Vision reported.

Source

The name 'Donna' will never be assigned to another hurricane in the Atlantic; it was retired in 1960 after it's destructive path up the U.S. coast. 

People in it's path need to get prepared for this one, sounds like. Let's hope it doesn't get any stronger. 

May everyone there be safe.  

[DuckforcoveR]

That's enormous! But it was a bit surprising to read that it's the biggest ever recorded. Wind speed alone just doesn't seem up there with the Atlantic hurricanes that stroll through here every so often. But I guess I never paid attention to the different speeds / sizes in the different hemispheres.

[Mystic Wanderer]

That's enormous! But it was a bit surprising to read that it's the biggest ever recorded.

I didn't have room for the full title in my box.  It was the biggest recorded for the month of May.