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Cyclone Fran was the third tropical cyclone within four weeks to impact Vanuatu in 1992. Fran formed on March 4 and then gradually intensified. Winds reached gale-force on March 5, and hurricane-force a few days later. Cyclone Fran reached the powerful Category 5 equivalent on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale near Vanuatu. The storm weakened somewhat due to land interaction, but briefly re-intensified after moving away from land. Fran gradually weakened over the next several days over less favorable conditions. Meanwhile, the storm passed north of New Caledonia. Eventually, as a Category 2 system on the Australian scale, Fran made landfall on Queensland during March 16. Severe Tropical Cyclone Fran turned towards the southeast and eventually headed back out to sea. The system dissipated the next day. On Efate, over 130 houses lost roofs. Along Queensland, two rivers sustained major flooding, but no deaths were attributed to this cyclone. Total damage from the system was 8-10 million (1992 AUD). Moderate damage was also reported in Fiji. In New Caledonia, the storm brought flooding and landslides. ==Meteorological history== On March 4, the Fiji Meteorological Service's Nadi tropical cyclone warning centre (TCWC Nadi) started to monitor, a shallow tropical depression that had developed within the monsoon trough to the north-northwest of the Samoan Islands. Over the next two days the depression slowly developed further as it moved towards the south-southwest, before the system was named Fran early on March 6 by TCWC Nadi as the system had started to rapidly intensify and had become a category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale and started to rapidly intensify. The NWOC also designated Fran as Tropical Cyclone 25P and started to issue advisories on it during that day as it passed about to the north of Futuna Island.〔 During that day as the system continued to move towards the south-southwest it crossed the International Dateline, which prompted the NWOC to pass the responsibility for warning the United States Government to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Early on March 7 as Fran passed about to the north of Suva, Fiji, TCWC Nadi reported that Fran had intensified into a category 3 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale. Over the next day the system steadily intensified further as it moved towards Vanuatu, before the JTWC reported at 1800 UTC on March 8 that Fran had peaked with 1-minute sustained wind speeds of 260 km/h (160 mph) which made it equivalent to a category 5 hurricane on the SSHS.〔〔〔 At around the same time TCWC Nadi estimated that Fran had peaked with 10-minute sustained wind speeds of 100 knots, which made it a category 4 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale.〔 Over the next 18 hours the system moved in-between the Vanuatuan Islands of Shefa and Erromango and passed about to the south of Port Vila, as it started to gradually weaken.〔〔 After weakening slightly because of land interaction, the cyclone slowly re-intensified as it pulled away from the island. Cyclone Fran passed north of New Caledonia early March 10, with 1-min sustained winds of . Subsequently, Fran moved towards the west and attained its secondary 10-minute sustained peak of and 1-minute sustained peak of on March 12. The cyclone had slowed by this stage and it subsequently assumed a somewhat erratic southwest track towards the coast. Over the subsequent next three days, Fran weakened as it became less organized. The cyclone finally crossed the Queensland coast (becoming the second cyclone of the season to do so) near the town of 1770 on 1700 UTC March 15. About an hour after landfall, the NWOC reported that the storm had 1-minute sustained winds of . Fran subsequently moved inland and weakened to a tropical depression before re-curving to the southeast and moving back over water. The remnants of Fran tracked over Norfolk Island before ultimately merging with a trough north of New Zealand. 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 Fran」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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