Summary
Severe Tropical Cyclone Frances was a late season small tropical cyclone that developed rapidly and weakened rapidly over the Timor Sea.
A tropical low in the Gulf of Papua on 20 April, about 200 km west of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, moved westwards across southern parts of Papua New Guinea during 22 April until it emerged over the northeast Arafura Sea on 23 April, about 500 km north of Nhulunbuy. The tropical low strengthened slowly as it continued to move westwards over warm waters of the Arafura Sea. The low passed south of the Aru Islands, Indonesia during 24 and 25 April until it stalled near Tanimbar Island, Indonesia on 26 April.
Overnight, the tropical low took a turn towards the southwest and experienced a period of rapid development. The tropical low continued to strengthen during 27 April and reached tropical cyclone intensity that afternoon, about 300 km northwest of Darwin. Frances moved west southwest across the central Timor Sea and continued to rapidly develop, reaching severe tropical cyclone intensity (category 3) by the afternoon of 28 April, just 24 hours after initially reaching tropical cyclone intensity. Severe Tropical Cyclone Frances maintained category 3 strength until the morning of 29 April. Due to increasingly unfavourable atmospheric conditions, the tropical cyclone weakened quickly over open water between the northwest Kimberley region of Australia and the island of Timor and was downgraded to a tropical low on the morning of 30 April.
Although Severe Tropical Cyclone Frances did not directly impact the surrounding coastlines of Australia, Indonesia and Timor Leste, the outer rainbands of the developing tropical cyclone produced heavy rainfall over the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin, Australia - Pirlangimpi recorded 192 mm in the 24-hour period to 9am Friday 28 April. An automatic weather station located in the Timor Sea reported a maximum wind gust of 120 km/h on the morning of 28 April as the tropical cyclone passed to the south. Refer to the tracks in Figure 1 and 1b, and Table 1 for tabulated parameter estimates.
For more information see the Severe TC Frances Report (pdf).
Track and Intensity
