Tag Archives: Weather

Latest Tropical Cyclone Anthony track maps

The good people at BoM are doing a great job with the track predictions:

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

The coast-crossing point is a little further south than first thought but current predictions are also showing that it may well only be Cat 1 when it crosses.

Edit 1: This is the 1644 track map. Heading further south again:

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Edit 2: The 1900 track map shows another shift further south and directly across Bowen:

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Edit 3: The 2200 track map has been released and you can see how close the centre of the eye is to the coast at Bowen:

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Edit 4: 2300 – Cyclone Anthony has crossed the coast at Bowen and is now Category 1 again:

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Edit 5: 0008 track map. The centre is well inland now and should be a low within twelve hours:

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Edit 6: That’s it, TC Anthony is an ex-cyclone and now classed as a tropical low. It would be good if it fizzled out sooner rather than later as south of here doesn’t need any more rain:

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Many thanks to BoM for the track map images.

Please note: These maps are only here as a living record of passing cyclones from the viewpoint of an ordinary FNQer. The info presented is out of date as soon as it is posted. If you want the latest information you should always check the BoM Cyclone page.

Cyclone Anthony – Mr Naughty

So Cyclone Anthony has finally made it’s mind up and is heading back up the coast. Here are the track maps from BoM:

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

The map above does not look good.

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

Tropical Cyclone Anthony

And this map looks even worse. According to the ABC  there is another system heading this way from Fiji that could reach Category 4 or 5 before crossing the coast very close to us. Cat 5 is the biggest on a scale of 1-5. Nice.

Edit: It seems we are on Cyclone Watch, as of 5pm.

Thanks, as always to BoM for the track maps.

Cyclone tracking

A major preoccupation in FNQ at this time of year is watching the predicted and actual tracks of cyclone. This being a La Niña year, and a biggie as they go, we’ve been watching developments with interest. The best way to deal with cyclones is to be prepared and the information from the Bureau of Meteorology is invaluable. As usual, clicking an image will give you a full-sized version.

Here’s the cyclone map on the 2011-01-14:

Australian Cyclone Map

Australian Cyclone Map

And here’s the same map a day later:

Australian Cyclone map

Australian Cyclone map

TC Vince, off the coast of Western Australia, has petered out so the people in that region can relax again.

Here are the track maps of TC Zelia:

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

As you can see, for the first couple of days of its life it was a Tropical Low but on the 14th it was predicted to become a Category 1 Tropical Cyclone. Cat 1 is the lowest strength on a scale of 1-5.

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

The prediction was changed indicating that the Tropical Low would become a Cat 1 cyclone early on the 15th as the people at the Bureau of Meteorology were able to get a better idea of where it was going and how it would develop.

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

It turned out that the first prediction of the 14th was correct and the cyclone was duly named TC Zelia. There is an alphabetical list of 104 names that BoM uses for cyclones and Zelia will be the last of the current A-Z list. The next one will be TC Anthony.

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

By the evening of the 15th Zelia was still a Cat 1 cyclone but was still heading in a general south east direction.

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

By late on the 15th Zelia was still heading SE but had grown in intensity to a Cat 3.

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

Cyclone Zelia Track Map

As you can see from the image above, Zelia was due east of us, still a Cat 3 and is still heading SE but moving at a faster pace. It was predicted to pass west of the coast of French Caledonia at 3am this morning but the latest information from BoM hasn’t been published yet. The people of French Caledonia and Norfolk island should escape the worst of the winds but will doubtless get a good soaking.

I’ll update this post as fresh maps become available and many thanks to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for the data.

NB The various cyclone categories used in Australia can be compared to other basins here.