TIFFANY

History

Tropical Cyclone Tiffany was a moderate, entirely offshore system that developed in the eastern Indian Ocean off north-western Australia in late February 1986.

The system began as a tropical low embedded in an active monsoon trough, first monitored on 24 February roughly 400 km north of the Kimberley coast. Warm sea surface temperatures and favourable upper-level conditions allowed the low to organise steadily as it tracked towards the south-west, and the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Perth named it Tiffany on 26 February as it reached Category 1 strength.

A mid-level ridge over the Australian continent steered Tiffany on a south-westward course roughly parallel to the Western Australian coastline, keeping it well out over open water. The cyclone strengthened to Category 2 on the Australian scale on 27 February and reached its peak late that same day while positioned about 450 km north-north-west of North West Cape. At its most intense, Tiffany had an estimated minimum central pressure near 980 hPa, with maximum 10-minute sustained winds of approximately 100–110 km/h and gusts to around 145 km/h.

The cyclone's decline was rapid. An approaching upper-level trough sharply increased vertical wind shear and drew cooler air into the circulation, stripping the deep convection away from the low-level centre. Tiffany weakened below cyclone intensity on 1 March over open water about 600 km west of Carnarvon, dissipating later the same day.

Because Tiffany never approached the coast, there were no impacts on mainland Western Australia and no landfall. Marine gale and storm warnings were issued for North West Shelf shipping lanes, and offshore oil and gas installations in the Dampier and Exmouth regions implemented heavy weather precautions, though no facilities were damaged. No deaths, injuries or structural damage were attributed to the system, making Tiffany a largely uneventful cyclone of the 1985–86 Australian region season.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia