WILLY

History

Tropical Cyclone Willy was a weak, very late-season system that developed over the eastern Indian Ocean near the Cocos (Keeling) Islands at the end of April 1994. It originated from a persistent tropical low embedded in a lingering monsoon trough, which drifted south-southwestward over warm water and became sufficiently organised for the Bureau of Meteorology's Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Perth to name it Willy on 29 April.

Steered by a mid-level ridge lying to its east, Willy maintained a broad southward track across open waters well to the west of the Western Australian coast, passing in the vicinity of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands — by some accounts roughly 80 km to their west. It reached its peak intensity as a Category 1 cyclone on the Australian scale around 30 April and 1 May, with a minimum central pressure near 988 hPa, ten-minute mean winds of about 85 km/h and gusts to approximately 115 km/h.

As the cyclone moved into higher latitudes it ran into strong upper-level westerly wind shear and progressively cooler sea surface temperatures. Deep convection was stripped away from the low-level circulation on 2 May, and Willy weakened quickly to a tropical low before dissipating over the open Indian Ocean in early May.

Willy never threatened the mainland or made landfall, and no casualties, injuries or structural damage were reported; its only operational effect was high-seas gale warnings issued for shipping. It was the final named system of an otherwise slightly above-average Australian region season.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia