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Severe Tropical Cyclone Esau became the strongest tropical cyclone to affect New Caledonia on record during February and March 1992. The system was first noted on February 24, as a shallow tropical depression, within the monsoon trough to the northeast of Port Villa, Vanuatu. The depression subsequently moved south-westwards towards the island nation of Vanuatu and gradually developed further, before it passed over the island of Pentecost during the next day. After passing over Pentecost the system continued to move south-westwards and executed a clockwise loop over the island of Espiritu Santo. The system was subsequently declared a tropical cyclone and named Esau during February 26, while it was located just to the south of Santo. Over the couple of days the system moved west-southwest and away from the islands as it gradually intensified further, before it reached its peak intensity as a category 4 tropical cyclone during February 28. Esau caused minimal damage and one death, as it affected the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and New Zealand. The system affected the northern Vanuatu Islands between February 25 – 27 and March 2 – 3, with heavy rain and strong winds of up to but caused no damage. Between February 28 – 29, gale force winds and flooding occurred on the Solomon Islands of Bellona and Rennell, with damage reported to houses, taro gardens and food crops including banana, coconut and pawpaw's. The system subsequently made landfall on New Caledonia during March 4, where 1 person drowned and minor damage to buildings was reported. The extra-tropical remnants of Esau made landfall on New Zealand's North Island during March 8, where hail and a tornado were reported to have occurred. The name Esau was subsequently retired from the list of tropical cyclone names for the South Pacific basin. ==Meteorological history== On February 24, 1992 the Fiji Meteorological Service started to monitor a shallow tropical depression, that had developed within the monsoon trough about to the northeast of Port Vila, Vanuatu. Over the next day the system gradually developed further as it moved towards the south-west under the influence of a northerly steering flow, before it passed over Pentecost Island in northern Vanuatu during February 25.〔 After passing over Pentecost the system continued to move towards the southwest and passed near the island of Malampa, before the depression turned northwards and executed a small clockwise loop as it passed over the island of Espiritu Santo.〔 Early on February 26, the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center started to issue advisories on the system and designated it as Tropical Cyclone 21P, while it was located to the east of Espiritu Santo. TCWC Nadi subsequently reported later that day that the system had developed into a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale and named it Esau.〔〔 Throughout that day as Esau intensified further, it moved south-westwards and away from the islands of Vanuatu.〔 Esau subsequently accelerated westwards to the north of an intense subtropical ridge of high pressure and gradually intensified further as it moved into an area of decreasing vertical windshear.〔 During February 28, the system became a category 3 severe tropical cyclone, while it was located about to the west of Espiritu Santo.〔 During that day the system intensified further before it started executing second clockwise loop as the subtropical ridge weakened and placed the system in an area of weak steering.〔 The FMS subsequently reported that the system had peaked as a category 4 severe tropical cyclone with 10-minute sustained wind speeds of .〔〔 The system subsequently moved into the Australian region and brought gale force winds to the Solomon Islands during February 29.〔 The JTWC also reported that Esau had peaked with 1-minute sustained wind speeds of , which made it equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Over the next few days the system moved south-eastwards and back into the South Pacific basin, under the influence of a northwest steering flow and threatened the southern islands of Vanuatu.〔 The system subsequently came to within of southern Vanuatu before turning southwards and threatening the French overseas territory of New Caledonia.〔 The system made landfall near Ponerihouen in the French territory of New Caledonia during March 4, as a category 3 severe tropical cyclone.〔 As a result of passing over the mountainous island nation and increasing vertical wind shear, the system continued to weaken and transitioned into an extra tropical cyclone.〔 The JTWC subsequently issued their final warning on Esau during March 6, after it had become an extra tropical cyclone over the cooler waters of the Tasman Sea.〔〔 The extra tropical remnants of Cyclone Esau subsequently made landfall on New Zealand's North Island in the Taranaki and Hawkes Bay area during March 8, before they were last noted during the next day over the South Pacific Ocean. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cyclone Esau」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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