LAURENCE

History

Tropical Cyclone Laurence was a short-lived and weak system that developed in the waters north-west of Australia in December 1990. It began on 8 December as a cluster of convection over the Timor Sea, which drifted south-east in association with a large-scale mid-latitude forcing event. By the following day the disturbance had consolidated into a tropical low roughly 360 km south-east of Dili, East Timor, continuing to organise as it tracked towards the south-east.

On 10 December, once the low became visible on the Darwin weather radar, TCWC Darwin classified it as a category one tropical cyclone and assigned the name Laurence. It reached its peak intensity at about this time, with 10-minute mean winds estimated at 65 km/h. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center designated the system 05S and began issuing warnings early on 11 December. Laurence's strengthening was short-lived, however, as vertical wind shear generated by low-level easterlies caused it to fall below cyclone intensity later on 11 December. The remnant circulation drifted west over the following days before dissipating near Rowley Shoals early on 16 December.

The only damage linked to Laurence was the sinking of a fishing boat on 11 December. TCWC Darwin regarded this loss as indirect, noting that the vessel was some 150 km from the cyclone's centre while the radius of gale-force winds extended less than 55 km.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia