AGI

History

Tropical Cyclone Agi developed from a tropical low first identified on 8 January 1988 roughly 1,200 km east of Cooktown, with a precursor disturbance traceable back to around 3 January. The low drifted northwestward towards the Papua New Guinea mainland and organised quickly in the waters east of Misima Island, deepening to 994 hPa. It was upgraded to cyclone intensity and named Agi by the Papua New Guinea National Weather Service on 11 January.

After brushing the eastern tip of the PNG mainland and the islands of the Louisiade Archipelago, Agi recurved to the southwest and then turned slowly southeastward, moving back into the eastern Coral Sea on 12 January. There it reached its peak strength as a Category 2 system on the Australian scale, with a minimum central pressure near 980 hPa, maximum ten-minute sustained winds of about 95 km/h and gusts to roughly 135 km/h. Continuing southeast on 13 January, Agi came under the influence of the much larger Severe Tropical Cyclone Anne, a Category 4 system then positioned south of New Caledonia. The binary interaction stripped Agi of its deep convection and it weakened rapidly, crossing into the Fiji region's area of responsibility early on 14 January before dissipating near New Caledonia later that day.

Agi never made landfall on the Australian coast, remaining more than 800 km offshore, although its broad outer circulation produced squally winds and raised swell along the tropical Queensland coastline. Its most direct effects were felt across the remote islands of Milne Bay province, where heavy rain, high tides and wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h were reported; contemporary news accounts described buildings damaged, trees uprooted and water supplies disrupted on some islands before the system veered away from the main island group. Misima Island recorded a minimum pressure of 995.9 hPa. No deaths were attributed to the cyclone. Remnant moisture and gales also prolonged heavy rainfall over Vanuatu and New Caledonia, where damage was dominated by Cyclone Anne. The name Agi was subsequently retired.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia