Summary
Kirsty , the most intense tropical cyclone of the season, began forming on 1 March in a monsoonal trough lying east-west to the south of Java. The pre-cyclonic low drifted westward and deepened very slowly. During 5 March, when the system was just northwest of Cocos Island, rapid intensification took place and cyclonic status was reached by 0300 UTC 6 March.
Under the influence of an upper-level anticyclone located over Cocos, Kirsty moved southwest and deepened rapidly after 0000 UTC 8 March. The lowest pressure, estimated at 920 hPa, was reached at 0600 UTC 9 March at 14.7°S, 85.0°E. This intensity was maintained until 0000 UTC 10 March when the system began to weaken and recurve. Maintaining a southeasterly track, Kirsty weakened over cooler water and lost cyclonic strength by 0600 UTC 16 March. The remnant low became embedded in a basically westerly stream and eventually dissipated off Cape Naturaliste at 0000 UTC 19 March.
While the strongest wind recorded was 93 km/h at 1800 UTC 7 March, 110 km from the centre, winds are estimated to have reached 200 km/h close to the centre during 9 March. Over the full life cycle the system travelled about 6900 km, however as the track was over the sea and distant from land, no damage is known to have occurred.
There was no known impact associated with TC Kirsty .
For more details see the TC Kirsty Report (pdf)
Track and intensity
All times in WST - subtract 8 hours to convert to UTC.
