1969–70 South Pacific cyclone season

Category 1 tropical cyclone (Australian scale)
Tropical storm (SSHWS)
Duration	April 13 – April 17
Peak intensity	75 km/h (45 mph) (10-min)  990 hPa (mbar)

On April 17, 1970, Apollo 13 was making its final descent over the splashdown zone when they spotted Cyclone Helen as they were re-entering the earth's atmosphere. Mission control had been tracking the storm to make sure it did not interfere with the mission's re-entry.

During January 5, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology first noted the existence of a weak tropical depression over the eastern Coral Sea, however, it has since been determined that the depression developed during January 2 near 15.8°S 165.1°E / -15.8; 165.1.[1][2] The system was subsequently tracked by infrequent satelitte imagery, which revealed that it slowly completed a cyclonic loop near the Solomon Islands before curving back toward the southwest.[1] The system entered the Australian region during 15 January, where it subsequently became Severe Tropical Cyclone Ada before making landfall on Queensland during 17 January.[1]