Lee

History

Tropical Cyclone Lee, later known as Ariel, was a short-lived system of the 2007–08 Australian region cyclone season, a season that was rated slightly below average overall. The storm began as a tropical low over the eastern Indian Ocean on 13 November 2007, in waters that fell within the area of responsibility of the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre at Jakarta. Despite the system's position, the Perth Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre took on warning duties and started issuing advices on the developing low that day.

On 14 November, Perth assessed the low as having reached tropical cyclone intensity and gave it the name Lee, still while the system sat inside Jakarta's zone. Later the same day the Joint Typhoon Warning Center released a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert for the storm and subsequently classified it as Tropical Cyclone 03S. Lee continued to organise and, on 15 November, Perth raised its intensity to Category 2 on the Australian scale.

The cyclone tracked steadily westward and, later on 15 November, moved past 90°E and out of the Australian region entirely. Perth issued its last advisory at that point, with responsibility transferring to the south-west Indian Ocean basin, where the Sub-Regional Tropical Cyclone Advisory Centre in Mauritius reclassified the system as Severe Tropical Storm Ariel under the naming conventions used in RSMC La Réunion's area.

Lee remained over open ocean for the whole of its life in the Australian region, staying well away from the Western Australian coastline, and no coastal crossing occurred. The system shared its 13 November formation date with Severe Tropical Cyclone Guba, which developed independently near southern Papua New Guinea.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia