ELMA

History

Severe Tropical Cyclone Elma developed on 26 February 1991 from a tropical disturbance within a monsoonal trough in the South-West Indian Ocean basin, situated well to the east-southeast of Diego Garcia. The system tracked generally south-southeastward over warm open ocean waters, steadily gaining organisation before reaching peak intensity on 1 March 1991. At its strongest, Elma attained Category 3 status on the Australian scale, with 10-minute sustained winds of 105 km/h and a minimum central pressure of 965 hPa.

Shortly after reaching peak intensity, the cyclone crossed the 90°E meridian into the Bureau of Meteorology's area of responsibility in the Australian region. Once in Australian waters, Elma encountered increasing vertical wind shear associated with an approaching atmospheric trough, along with cooler sea surface temperatures at higher southern latitudes. These conditions caused rapid weakening, and the system fell below tropical cyclone intensity on 3 March. Elma then executed a clockwise loop over the remote open ocean before drifting back westward across the 90°E boundary, where it fully dissipated on 5 March 1991.

Throughout its entire lifespan, Elma remained over open ocean and never threatened any populated coastline. No structural damage, casualties, or shipping incidents were recorded in association with the storm.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia