[3] They noted that the current neutral ENSO conditions would historically suggest the South Pacific region as a whole would experience near average tropical cyclone activity during the coming season.

[3] During October 2012, the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and its partners issued a tropical cyclone outlook, for the South Pacific region between 135°E and 120°W.

[4] NIWA also predicted that countries west of the International Date Line, including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji were likely to experience an average to slightly above normal risk of a tropical cyclone.

[4] During December 2012, the Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre (GCACIC), issued a seasonal forecast for the whole basin and one each for the regions to the east and west of 135°E.

[8] The following day, a significant central dense overcast developed over the low and banding features began forming to the northwest of the center.

[10] Later on 28 December, the JTWC classified the system as a tropical storm as the banding features consolidated around the low's center and a scatterometer pass revealed winds of 55 to 65 km/h (35 to 40 mph).

[11] On 29 December, TCWC Perth classified the system as Tropical Cyclone Mitchell, the first named storm in the western region for the season.

The storm ultimately attained peak winds of 75 km/h (45 mph) and a pressure of 990 mb (hPa; 29.23 inHg) before weakening below tropical cyclone strength on 30 December.

[22][23] Moisture from the storm spread into South Australia, producing light rain and bringing relief to areas suffering from a severe drought.

Situated within a region of low wind shear and high sea surface temperatures, conditions were favorable for gradual development of the system.

Situated in a very moist air mass and over the warm waters of the Gulf, some intensification was expected before Oswald struck the Cape York Peninsula.

[33] Approximately 12 hours after being named, the storm made its second landfall north of Kowanyama with winds of 65 km/h (40 mph) and the final advisory was issued by TCWC Brisbane.

[39] Tracking west-southwestward in response to a weak mid-level ridge to the southeast, the system gradually intensified and was designated as Tropical Low 08U later on 21 January by TCWC Perth as it moved offshore.

Two days later, the low reached Tropical Cyclone strength and was named Rusty as it moved very slowly south towards the coast of Western Australia.

Due to the slow-moving nature of the cyclone, Port Hedland experienced 39 hours of winds of at least gale-force strength (with the maximum gust of 119 km/h), something not seen since 1942.

[50] The effects of Rusty were far reaching (paralleling Cyclone Lua almost a year ago), with areas of Southern WA and the Goldfields experiencing heavy rains.

Early on 22 February, TCWC Perth started to monitor Tropical Low 11U, that had formed within the Indian Ocean, about 500 km (310 mi) to the east-southeast of Cocos Island.

[53] The remnants of Sandra bought areas of heavy rain and thunderstorms to drought-stricken parts of New Zealand, with reports of up to 112 millimetres (4.4 in) at Turakina near Whanganui and a tornado in New Plymouth.

[citation needed] On 10 March 2013, the JTWC started tracking a tropical low approximately 426 km (265 mi) west south-west of the tip of Cape York Peninsula in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

As the system began to move north-east, a subtropical ridge located to the south provided a good outflow channel, while vertical windshear continued to improve in the area.

On 13 March, banding features began to wrap around the lows center, and the JTWC warned the system had a high chance of forming into a tropical cyclone over the next 24 hours, as it continued to move north-east.

Located approximately 440 km (275 mi) north-east of Cairns, Tropical Cyclone Tim began to move in an east south-easterly direction towards Willis Island.

A pocket of dry air formed to the west of the storm, and caused Tim to rapidly weaken, falling back to a Category 1 Tropical Cyclone on 15 March.

On 1 April, heavy rains, peaking at 187 mm (7.4 in) in Edith Farms Road, over the Katherine Region triggered localised flooding.

[60] On 27 April, the TCWC Brisbane reported that a tropical low had formed 700 km (435 mi) east-southeast of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

[61] A cyclone watch was issued for the Queensland coast between Thursday Island and Cooktown by the Bureau of Meteorology as Zane began to intensify.

Late on 2 May, the remnant low crossed the coast near Lockhart River, causing minimal rain of less than 25 mm (5 cm) in the Torres Strait.

[64] Zane was shown to have reached marginal Category 3 severe tropical cyclone status in the best track data post-analysis of the storm, with sustained winds of 120 km/h (75 mph).

[44] During the season a total of 9 tropical cyclones received a name from BoM, either by TCWC Perth, Darwin, or Brisbane, when the system was judged to have 10-minute sustained windspeeds of 65 km/h (40 mph).