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Tropical Low lashes Gulf of Carpentaria

Drew Casper-Richardson, Sunday February 19, 2017 - 12:10 AEDT

Southern parts of the Gulf of Carpentaria have been lashed with heavy rain and gusty winds as a tropical low makes its presence felt.

The deteriorating conditions prompted the release of a Severe Weather Warning for damaging winds and heavy rain for southeastern parts of the Arnhem and eastern parts of the Carpentaria districts. In Queensland, a Severe Weather Warning for heavy rain was issued for western parts of the Gulf Country.

There have already been some impressive totals from the system. Borrolola picked up 183mm in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday and across the Queensland border, Sweers Island recorded 168mm.

Come the end of the day the first cyclone for the season may be named. On Sunday morning the system was slowly making its way over the warm open water of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Here it will feed off the warm waters and potentially deepen enough to reach cyclone strength. Should this happen it will be named "Alfred".

On Sunday morning a Cyclone Warning was in place from Cape Shield to the Northern Territory/Queensland border (including the island of Groote Eylandt) while a Cyclone Watch extends to Burketown in Queensland and includes Mornington Island.

The areas receiving the heaviest rain and strongest winds will depend on the track of the system. Regardless of the system reaching cyclone intensity, those in the southern parts of the Gulf of Carpentaria can expect further heavy rain and gusty winds. Daily totals in excess of 100mm are likely in some parts for the next two or three days, along with squally winds. Most models have the system making landfall near the border of Queensland and Northern Territory late on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2017

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