User:Jason Rees/Ima

On February 5, the Fiji Meteorological Service reported that a tropical depression had developed within the South Pacific Convergence Zone to the east of Keppel Island in Tonga.^[1][2] During that day, the system developed gale-force winds in its northern quadrant, as it moved south-eastwards along a trough of low pressure towards the southern Cook Islands.^[1] According to the FMS, the depression maintained its intensity until after 03:00 UTC on February 6 (17:00 UTC-10, February 5), when it started to rapidly transform into a tropical cyclone; however, they were not able to adequately monitor this transformation because of a lack of satellite imagery.^[1] At around 10:30 UTC (20:30 UTC-10), the FMS realised that the system had developed into a tropical cyclone with 10-minute sustained winds of 110 km/h (70 mph) and named it Ima, while it was located about 295 km (185 mi) to the northeast of the island of Palmerston in the southern Cook Islands.^[1][3] Ima continued to intensify as it moved south-eastwards before it was classified as a hurricane by the FMS at 12:00 UTC (02:00 UTC-10), while the Naval Western Oceanography Center designated it as Tropical Cyclone 15P as they initiated advisories on the system.^[1][3][4] Later that day, Ima passed directly over Palmerston at around 15:00 UTC (05:00 UTC-10), where hurricane-force winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) and wind gusts of 280 km/h (175 mph) were reported.^[1][5]

After passing over Palmerston, Ima continued to intensify as it moved southeastwards and passed within 55 km (35 mi) to the north of Aitutaki at around 07:00 UTC on February 7, (17:00 UTC-10, February 6).^[1][3] Over the next couple of days, the system continued to move south-eastwards through the southern Cook Islands and was tracked by the French frigate Balny developed a well defined eye