Severe Weather Update 22 Jan 2024: Tropical cyclone developing over the coral sea

Australian Community Media

Severe Weather Update: Tropical cyclone developing over the coral sea in the next 24 hours. Video current: 12:30pm AEST 22 January 2024. Courtesy: BOM

Transcript

00:00 A tropical cyclone is likely to develop over the Coral Sea in the next 24 hours.

00:05 In this video we'll take you through what we know right now and how this situation may

00:10 evolve over the coming days.

00:12 So looking first of all at our water vapour imagery, we can see the cloud and thunderstorm

00:17 activity across the Coral Sea.

00:20 It's hard to make out too much rotation in this cloud at this point in time, but we know

00:24 that the tropical low, 05U, is sitting over 800km off the Queensland coast.

00:31 Because it's still so far offshore, we're not seeing any impacts at the moment, with

00:35 southeasterly flow bringing just a few patchy showers to the central Queensland coast, but

00:39 that is likely to change over the next day or two.

00:42 And that is why we do have a tropical cyclone watch already current, which covers areas

00:48 between Ayr and St Lawrence.

00:50 And I'll go through that in just a moment.

00:53 Tropical low, 05U, is expected to become a tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours.

01:01 At that time it will be named as a tropical cyclone.

01:05 It will be moving southwest and is expected to continue southwest through into Wednesday

01:10 morning and it's really from Wednesday morning that we're likely to start seeing impacts

01:14 for the Queensland coast, initially in this tropical cyclone watch area you see here.

01:21 Sustained gale force winds, wind gusts up to 120km/h, heavy rainfall and flash flooding

01:27 are all possible from Wednesday morning or later in the day on Wednesday.

01:33 This may bring down trees or power lines, causing property damage, closing roads and

01:38 access routes and potentially even leading to power failures.

01:42 If you or someone you know lives along the central Queensland coast, particularly in

01:46 this watch area between Ayr and St Lawrence, it's essential to keep an eye on the watch

01:52 and warning products over the coming days and know that you might see these impacts

01:56 within the next 24 to 48 hours.

02:00 Through the day on Wednesday, we do expect this system to intensify further, reaching

02:05 severe tropical cyclone category 3 intensity later in the day.

02:10 It'll be approaching the coast at that point in time, bringing the strong winds and heavy

02:14 rainfall with it.

02:15 It is likely our watch and warning areas will be more extensive about parts of the Queensland

02:21 coast at that time, but we'll have a clearer picture of where those heaviest impacts will

02:25 be as we get closer to this point in time.

02:29 So when and where will the coastal crossing occur?

02:31 Well, I'll remove the watch area and the winds just to simplify this map and we'll

02:35 take a look.

02:37 The system is likely to approach the Queensland coast crossing at some point on Thursday between

02:43 Cairns and Mackay.

02:45 At this point in time, our most likely location for that is just to the south of Townsville,

02:49 but it is worth remembering that tropical cyclones can speed up or slow down as they

02:54 approach the coast and change their trajectory slightly.

02:58 The strongest winds and heaviest rain are likely with this coastal crossing, so it's

03:03 imperative to keep an eye on any changes to this coastal crossing expectation over the

03:08 coming days.

03:10 After it crosses the coast, it will move inland and weaken, reaching tropical low intensity

03:15 once again by Friday morning.

03:18 Even as the rainfall eases along the coast, we're likely to see widespread flooding

03:22 impacts following this system, moving inland as the tropical low does.

03:27 In fact, the end of the week won't be the end of the potential rain and flooding.

03:32 Some computer model guidance is indicating that this system will hook back around towards

03:37 the southeast of Queensland through the weekend and into early next week, with the potential

03:42 for further rainfall and flooding impacts for central and southeast Queensland going

03:48 into early next week.

03:51 With this situation developing in the next 24 hours, it's essential to keep up to date

03:56 via the Bureau's website and the BOM Weather app.

03:58 Stay safe and we'll catch you in the next update.

04:01 [Music]

Category

Transcript

Recommended