France and is believed to have been a tropical storm. At the end of March, an upper-level trough associated with a cold front developed over the southeast Pacific Ocean. By March 31, a low-level circulation had developed roughly 600 km (375 mi) east of the Pitcairn Islands. Despite moderate wind shear, the system intensified and became a tropical depression early on April 1. Owing to a subtropical ridge to the north, the depression tracked west-southwestward into an area of decreased shear. Subsequently, the system was able to intensify into a tropical storm by the evening of April 2. Though the storm remained shear, it quickly intensified throughout April 3 with convection remaining within half a degree of the center of circulation. During the evening hours, an eye-like feature appeared on satellite imagery, and the system simultaneously was estimated to have reached its peak intensity as a strong tropical storm with one-minute winds of 100 km/h (65 mph). Hours later, dry air became entrained in the storm's circulation and caused it to rapidly weaken to a tropical depression. By the afternoon of April 4, the low had become fully exposed and the system was no longer classified a tropical cyclone. Season effects This is a table of all of the storms that have formed in the 2001–02 South Pacific cyclone season. It includes their duration, names, landfall(s)–denoted by bold location names – damages, and death totals. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a wave, or a low, and all of the damage figures are in 2002 USD. |- | || November 29 – December 3 || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || Cook Islands, French Polynesia || || || |- | || December 8–15 || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || Fiji || None || || |- | || December 19 – January 2 || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || Wallis and Futuna, Niue, Tonga, New Zealand || || 1 || |- | || December 22–26 || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || None || None || || |- | || December 31 – January 6 || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || Solomon Islands || None || || |- | || January 15–16 || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || New Caledonia || None || || |- | || January 20–27 || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || bgcolor=#| || Vanuatu, New Caledonia || None || ||