OPHELIA

History

Tropical Cyclone Ophelia was a short-lived, early-season system that developed over the eastern Indian Ocean in mid-December 1996. The system began as a tropical low within an active monsoon trough on 13 December, forming in the far northwest of the Australian region between two other cyclones then active — Nicholas, close to the north Kimberley coast, and Elvina, near 80°E — and lay several hundred kilometres from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and to the east of Christmas Island.

Organising gradually over warm seas, the low was upgraded and named Ophelia by the Bureau of Meteorology's Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Perth on 15 December. Its track was unusual for the region, with the system following a generally southeasterly course for much of its life rather than the more typical southwesterly path. Ophelia reached its peak on 16 December as a Category 2 tropical cyclone, with an estimated minimum central pressure near 980 hPa and maximum sustained winds of about 100 km/h, with gusts to roughly 140 km/h, while positioned a few hundred kilometres from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Late on 16 December the cyclone moved beneath a strong upper-level westerly flow, and the resulting vertical wind shear stripped the deep convection away from the low-level circulation. Ophelia fell below cyclone intensity early on 17 December, with the remnant low tracked over open water before dissipating by 19 December.

The cyclone remained clear of land throughout, producing no gale damage at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, no effects on northwest Australia, and no casualties.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia