ALEX

History

Tropical Cyclone Alex had its beginnings in an area of convection that the Joint Typhoon Warning Center identified on 24 October 2001 in the eastern Indian Ocean, southwest of Sumatra and to the north of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The disturbance became better organised over the following day and was relocated further west, prompting a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert. On 26 October the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Perth began issuing gale warnings and, a few hours later, named the system Tropical Cyclone Alex while it lay roughly 555 km northwest of the Cocos Islands.

Alex initially drifted slowly westward, with upper-level wind shear holding back development. Late on 27 October its central convection consolidated and Perth assessed peak winds of about 95 km/h. Steered by a mid-level ridge positioned to its southeast, the cyclone tracked west-southwest and crossed 90°E early on 28 October, passing out of the Australian region and into the area of responsibility managed from La Réunion, where it was renamed Severe Tropical Storm Andre. Around this time it reached its greatest strength, with both Météo-France and the JTWC estimating sustained winds near 55 knots.

The system remained over open water, well away from populated coastlines. Its formation in late October came ahead of the official start of the Australian cyclone season on 1 November.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia