 In response to a southeasterly surge and a weaker monsoonal surge, it intensified to cyclone strength about 110 km south of Timor, under a divergent upper northeasterly wind regime.Its initial development may have been inhibited by restrictions to its low-level inflow caused by the mountains of Timor to its north.Once clear of this barrier, the cyclone intensified rapidly as it continued to move west-southwest, under the influence of a subtropical high over Australia.