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Tropical Cyclone Wallace emerges above WA

Scott Morris, Saturday April 6, 2019 - 11:59 AEDT

A tropical low has officially intensified to a tropical cyclone this morning and has been named Wallace. It is currently off the coast of the Kimberley region in Western Australia.

At 8am WST, Wallace had developed into a Category 1 system and was 290 kilometres north northwest of Kalumburu and 580km north northeast of Cape Leveque. Furthermore, TC Wallace has a central pressure of 997hPa and sustained winds of 85km/h and gusts of 120km/h near its center.

So far, TC Wallace has not had largely adverse effects as it is far enough offshore from the coast. Wind and rain have already been recorded in places in the far north of WA but these places not expected to feel further effects due to TC Wallace's trajectory. Troughton Island, which is offshore to the north of WA, recorded a wind gust of 70km/h at 5am along with nearly 70mm of rain since 9am Friday. Kalumburu, which is on the north coast of the Kimberley region, had a wind gust of 37km/h at 4am. From 7am to 8am local time, Kalumburu also had over 7mm of rainfall. Some places are also experiencing somewhat unusual, but not damaging, wave heights which may reach over 2m.

TC Wallace is currently moving west southwest at a fairly slow pace and is expected to continue this trajectory in the coming days. The most likely path has the tropical cyclone well off the Pilbara cost. However, it is difficult to precisely predict the movement of this system and there is a low chance that it could approach the west Pilbara coast sometime during the next week.

The severity of TC Wallace's effects will depend on its path. Showers and storms may occur along the coast of the Pilbara region with increased winds and swell also a risk. It should also direct heat down into southern WA later on in the week.

For more information on Tropical Cyclone Wallace, check http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/index.shtml

- Weatherzone

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