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Two tropical cyclones are moving away on opposite sides of the country after forming in the last 24 hours.
Queensland may yet face a threat from the newly-named Tropical Cyclone Alfred which is moving slowly east in the Coral Sea.
Alfred is intensifying as it moves south, says senior meteorologist Angus Hines.
“Alfred is category one but it is experiencing gradual intensification as it sits over a warm ocean in a region of the atmosphere conducive to cyclone development, meaning it is forecast to intensify into a category 2 cyclone (today),” he says.
“Over the next few days, Alfred will continue to move eastwards then southwards, all the while staying several hundred kilometres off the Qld coast.”
Hines says Alfred is most likely to become a severe category 3 cyclone on Tuesday.
“Alfred will influence the weather across parts of the east coast,” he says.
He predicts stiff south-easterly winds and passing showers this week as strong winds will ensure choppy conditions and a sizeable swell.
He says one longer-range forecast for later this week, the weekend and even early next week is that Alfred veers back towards the central or southern Qld coast.
“It’s too early to say which parts of the coast are most likely to be impacted, how strong the winds could be or how much rain could occur,” he says.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
On late Sunday night, Tropical Cyclone Bianca was named; it is a category 1 cyclone sitting in the Indian Ocean about 1000km northwest of the WA coastline and moving further west.
“Bianca will swing south today and start moving parallel to the WA coast with no impact on the weather,” Hines says.
“Bianca is forecast to become a category 2 tropical cyclone today (Monday) but not likely to strengthen much beyond that as it moves south away from the warm tropical waters.”
Hines says it could weaken to below tropical cyclone strength on Wednesday.
“Bianca is very likely to weaken a long way away from country,” he says.
