Tropical Cyclone Narelle to make landfall in far north Queensland on Friday as category four storm, bringing 200km/h winds

## Summary
A tracking map, issued by the Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday morning, shows the expected path of Tropical Cyclone Narelle as it makes landfall in far north Qld on Friday, with the town of Coen at its epicentre. Illustration: Bureau of Meteorology A tracking map, issued by the Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday morning, shows the expected path of Tropical Cyclone Narelle as it makes landfall in far north Qld on Friday, with the town of Coen at its epicentre. Illustration: Bureau of Meteorology Tropical Cyclone Narelle to make landfall in far north Queensland on Friday as category four storm, bringing 200km/h winds Massive storm tracking a path to Queensland coast, which intensified offshore Thursday morning to category five, fuelled by warm waters in Coral Sea Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is expected to make landfall in far north Queensland on Friday morning as a monster category four storm, bringing destructive wind gusts in excess of 225km/h, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Early on Thursday morning, a BoM projection suggested a landfall at category five, but a later update suggested a landfall at category four – still a destructive and major cyclone.

## Article Content
A tracking map, issued by the Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday morning, shows the expected path of Tropical Cyclone Narelle as it makes landfall in far north Qld on Friday, with the town of Coen at its epicentre.
Illustration: Bureau of Meteorology
A tracking map, issued by the Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday morning, shows the expected path of Tropical Cyclone Narelle as it makes landfall in far north Qld on Friday, with the town of Coen at its epicentre.
Illustration: Bureau of Meteorology
Tropical Cyclone Narelle to make landfall in far north Queensland on Friday as category four storm, bringing 200km/h winds
Massive storm tracking a path to Queensland coast, which intensified offshore Thursday morning to category five, fuelled by warm waters in Coral Sea
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Severe
Tropical Cyclone Narelle
is expected to make landfall in far north Queensland on Friday morning as a monster category four storm, bringing destructive wind gusts in excess of 225km/h, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The severe cyclone rapidly intensified over the past 48 hours and on Thursday morning had built to a category five storm that was barrelling west, sitting about 500km east of the small town of Coen.
One climate scientist, a former Bureau expert, said the storm had been travelling over Coral Sea waters that had seen record high temperatures in recent months and this was helping to fuel Narelle.
BoM forecaster Angus Hines told Guardian Australia that on Thursday morning Narelle was moving “swiftly” west at about 20km/h and had experienced rapid intensification to become a category five system – the highest category available.
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Early on Thursday morning, a BoM projection suggested a landfall at category five, but a later update suggested a landfall at category four – still a destructive and major cyclone. The outlooks could still change ahead of Friday’s expected landfall.
Warmer than usual ocean temperatures in the Coral Sea and its speed and favourable wind conditions “have allowed [Narelle] to intensify quickly and sit near the top of the scale”, Hines said.
Narelle was expected to make landfall on Friday morning and could bring a daily downpour of between 150mm and 300mm for the Cape York region, with up to 450mm possible in some areas.
“That is enough to cause flash flooding and cause river levels to climb so we should expect flooding as the rain works its way through the river systems,” Hines said.
Category five storms can deliver maximum winds speeds of more than 200km/h and gusts upwards of 250km/h, causing widespread destruction of buildings and vegetation.
Narelle is expected to move over the Gulf of Carpentaria before crossing the Top End on Saturday evening as a category three system.
The expected track takes the storm south of Darwin and close to Katherine and Daly River – areas that have seen
devastating flooding
in recent weeks.
The scale of northern Australia’s record-breaking floods revealed in data and maps
Read more
Hines said Narelle had the potential to make a third land crossing next week after an expected move over the Indian Ocean to the west, where he said conditions were also conducive to a cyclone.
The most recent category five storm to cross the Australian coastline was Ilsa in April 2023, which struck north of Port Hedland in Western Australia and recorded a record wind gust of 289km/h.
The last time
Queensland
had a category five storm cross the coast was Marcia in 2015, which struck in a relatively uninhabited area north of Yeppoon.
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, said on Wednesday Narelle could be
the biggest system in living memory
for communities in the firing line.
Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi – one of the state’s most powerful on record – struck as a category five storm in 2011, crossing further south of Narelle’s track, between Innisfail and Cardwell.
Adjunct Prof Andrew Watkins, a climate scientist at Monash University and a councillor with the Climate Council, said Narelle was moving through the Coral Sea which had seen record sea surface temperatures in recent months.
“The Coral Sea is almost half a degree warmer than it was 30 or 40 years ago. warmer ocean temperatures are fuel for tropical cyclones,” he said.
Ocean temperatures along Narelle’s track were between 1C and 2C warmer than average, Watkins said. The Coral Sea recently recorded its hottest December, hottest February, hottest summer, hottest calendar year and hottest financial year on record, Watkins said.
Rising ocean temperatures have been linked to the burning of fossil fuels, with about 90% of the extra heat trapped in the Earth’s system being taken up by oceans.
Watkins said Australia was expected to experience less cyclones under global heating, but a higher percentage of those that do strike would be more intense.
Sea level rise would also make storm s

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## Expert Analysis

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### Areas for Consideration
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### Implications
- The outlooks could still change ahead of Friday’s expected landfall.
- Narelle was expected to make landfall on Friday morning and could bring a daily downpour of between 150mm and 300mm for the Cape York region, with up to 450mm possible in some areas. “That is enough to cause flash flooding and cause river levels to climb so we should expect flooding as the rain works its way through the river systems,” Hines said.
- The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, said on Wednesday Narelle could be the biggest system in living memory for communities in the firing line.
- Sea level rise would also make storm surges and coastal erosion worse, he said, and cyclones would be able to deliver more rainfall than before because of the increased heat and moisture in the atmosphere. “Climate change hasn’t caused this cyclone, but it is certainly increasing its impacts,” he said. “We have to own that as emitters of carbon dioxide.” Explore more on these topics Tropical Cyclone Narelle Queensland Australia weather Extreme weather Northern Territory Climate crisis Oceans news Share Reuse this content

### Expert Commentary
This article covers narelle, category, cyclone topics. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 902.