1999–2000 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
The 1999–2000 South-West Indian Ocean tropical cyclone season was the first on record in which two storms – Leon–Eline and Hudah – struck Mozambique at tropical cyclone intensity, or with maximum sustained winds of at least 120 km/h (75 mph). The most notable storm of the season was Eline, which was the longest-lasting storm on record in the basin. It lasted for 29 days while traversing the southern Indian Ocean, making the strongest landfall in decades along eastern Madagascar in late February. The storm was the first in a series of three storms that struck the country in early 2000, along with Gloria in March and Hudah in April. Collectively, the three storms killed at least 316 people. The season started on November 1, 1999, and ended for most of the basin on April 30, 2000; for Mauritius and the Seychelles, the season continued until May 15. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the basin;
1998–99 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
After a subtropical depression exited the Mozambique Channel, another area of convection formed in the region on January 8, which fluctuated in intensity for several days. A passing cold front increased convection further on January 12, which split off a cutoff low-pressure area. Two days later, a subtropical disturbance formed offshore Beira, Mozambique, classified due to the extratropical origins and lack of centralized convection. The system remained nearly stationary, with the convection extending well to the east. On January 16, the MFR reclassified the system as a tropical depression after the thunderstorms increased near the center, the increasing organization due to moderate but decreasing wind shear. By that time, the depression had begun an eastward movement, but soon turned to the south in the weakness between two high-pressure areas. Late on January 16, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Alda after the convection organized into a central dense overcast. Also that day, the JTWC began tracking the system as Tropical Cyclone 12S. This marked an unusually late start for the first named storm, at the time the third-latest on record.