Tropical Cyclone Fina developing north of the Northern Territory

Australian Community Media

Forecasters at the Bureau of Meteorology say Fina is a category one storm with 75km/h winds at its centre and gusts of up to 100km/h.

Transcript

00:00Tropical Cyclone Feena, a Category 1 system, has now developed, located to the north of

00:06the Northern Territory. Impacts are likely for parts of the Top End by Friday.

00:12Now, through the early hours of this morning, we did see the Tropical Low Pressure System,

00:16known as 02U, gradually moving eastwards to the north of the Northern Territory.

00:22Through that time, we saw a rapid intensification, more quick than we were initially expecting,

00:28and the system reached tropical cyclone intensity around 4 o'clock this morning Central Standard Time.

00:34Now, the system does look fairly close to the Northern Territory coast,

00:38but at this point in time, it's actually still located around 370 kilometres to the north-north-east

00:44of Darwin. We are seeing some showers, rain areas and thunderstorms impacting parts of the Top End,

00:50but most of the impacts associated with this developing tropical cyclone are held closer

00:55to the system out over the ocean to the north. But how will this system continue to develop today

01:02and over the next few days? Through the rest of today, we are likely to see Tropical Cyclone Feena

01:08gradually moving towards the east-north-east, likely reaching Category 2 intensity by Wednesday night.

01:17As we go into tomorrow, the system is likely to make a U-turn, hooking back around to the south,

01:23and then gradually moving south-west towards the Northern Territory northern coastline.

01:28Now, it's around this time, late Thursday into Friday, that we might start to see more direct

01:34impacts developing for parts of the Northern Territory coastline and the Tiwi Islands.

01:39We can see this a little bit more clearly in our latest tropical cyclone track map,

01:44and the tropical cyclone watch that is now current.

01:46Taking a look at those now, we'll focus on the track map first of all. This blue number here

01:53indicates the latest analysis for where tropical cyclone Feena is located. This is at a Category 1

02:00system, but as you can see, by this evening we are expecting the system to strengthen to Category 2

02:05intensity. As I said, we're then expecting the system to move back around to the south, then south-west

02:11over the next few days gradually coming close to the Northern Territory coast once again, and possibly

02:17crossing this far northern part of the Northern Territory across the Coburg Marine Park by Saturday

02:23morning as a Category 2 system. Now, there are still a number of directions this system might develop,

02:29a number of directions it might move, including further to the east or further to the west,

02:35staying out over the water. However, this track map represents our best estimate of how this system

02:41will move over the coming days. Now, we do have a tropical cyclone watch also current. It's shown by

02:48these orange areas on this map. So, the tropical cyclone watch currently extends from Millingimbi in the

02:54east, all the way across that northernmost part of the Northern Territory, and across the Tiwi Islands,

02:59out to Cape Forcroy in the west of Bathurst Island. In this tropical cyclone watch area,

03:05we're likely to see gale force winds developing within the next 48 hours. For some areas, that might

03:12be as early as Thursday, but for others, we might not see that gale force wind developing until Friday

03:18morning. In fact, we may even see some locally destructive wind gusts up to 135 kilometres an hour

03:25developing for parts of the Northern Territory coastline between Cape Don and Worrawee through

03:31late Thursday into early Friday. So really, it's that end of the week period when we're likely to

03:37see the more direct impacts from tropical cyclone fina developing. How will things play out after this

03:44time? Returning to our map here, we can see tropical cyclone fina is most likely to then continue moving

03:50south-west through the Van Diemen Gulf, scraping that far western part of the top end as we go

03:57through the weekend. Again, there are still a few different scenarios as to exactly how this system

04:02might move, but we are likely to see the system passing close by Darwin or possibly making a coastal

04:09crossing somewhere in the vicinity over the weekend. This means that for Darwin, the worst of the impacts

04:15are likely to come this weekend. That includes the strong gale force damaging, possibly destructive winds,

04:22an elevated sea state and storm surge, and of course, the increased rainfall that we're expecting.

04:28Taking a look at our rainfall totals all the way out to the end of Sunday night, we can see this

04:33pattern here. The highest rainfall totals along that north-western corner of the top end and across the

04:39Tiwi Islands, but the highest rainfall accumulations are expected where that system passes closest by,

04:46so that may include areas around Darwin. This is certainly the time to be prepared and be aware of

04:53what's to come. You can always find the latest forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website,

04:58the BOM Weather app and via our social media. Stay safe and we'll catch you next time.

05:09you

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