The low pressure system that caused flooding in central QLD earlier this week could soon become a tropical cyclone over the Coral Sea.
The sequence of satellite images below shows a tropical low located around 500 km to the east of the Qld coast this morning, near Willis Island.
Earlier this week, this low helped produce more than one metre of rain in parts of central eastern Qld, resulting in major flooding in some areas. Proserpine Airport picked up more than 800 mm of rain during this event and is already having its wettest January since 1974.
But with the tropical low now 500 km offshore and moving further away from Qld, rain has eased along the state’s east coast and floodwaters are receding.
Looking ahead, the low is likely to gain strength as it moves further away from the Qld coast over the next few days, drawing energy from the warm surface of the Coral Sea.
Based on current model guidance, the low has a moderate to high chance of becoming a tropical cyclone between now and Saturday. If it does reach tropical cyclone strength while still inside Australia’s area of responsibility (west of longitude 160º E), it will be named Freddy and become the third system named by Australia so far this season.
This tropical low/cyclone is not expected to have any direct impact on mainland Australia from now on. However, a monsoon trough extending towards its west will cause heavy rain over far northern Qld in the coming days.
