The remarkably inactive cyclone season off Australia's north has finally been disturbed by a major storm, as Tropical Cyclone Blanche brings heavy rain and strong winds to the Top End around Darwin.
The storm, ranked as a category-1 tempest, is likely to strengthen into a category-2 cyclone on Monday afternoon when it is forecast to make landfall on the north Kimberley coast east of Kalumburu.
So far this season, no cyclone has made landfall on mainland Australia. If Cyclone Blanche crosses the coast as expected, it will be the latest on record for the first landfall on the continent during a season.
The storm has "sustained winds near the centre of 75 kilometres per hour with wind gusts to 100 kilometres per hour", the Bureau of Meteorology said in a warning issued on Sunday.
The cyclone, travelling southwest parallel to the coast, brought significant rainfall and strong winds to Darwin and surrounds on Sunday.
Point Fawcett, off the western coast of the Tiwi Islands, copped the brunt of the cyclone and received record rainfall.
384mm at #PointFawcett from 4pm yesterday to 9am today, their highest daily rainfall total on record! More here https://t.co/3OFTtvkqmC pic.twitter.com/qFfI3RJ7vB
— BOM NT (@BOM_NT) March 5, 2017
"This smashes Point Fawcett's previous 24 hour rainfall record of 265.2mm recorded during Cyclone Carlos in 2011," the Bureau's NT regional director said.
As much as 70mm of rain is forecast for Darwin on Monday.
Old record for the latest "first TC to cross the Aus coast for the season" was March 1 [TC Charlie in Qld 1988]. *Maybe* March 6 for 2017 https://t.co/e38vTPBCZX
— Andrew B Watkins (@windjunky) March 4, 2017
Australia typically records 11 named cyclones in its region in a season. Last summer, there were just three such named storms, the least in records dating back more than four decades.
The bureau had predicted this season would be more active than usual.
A cyclone off the Queensland coast might be almost a welcomed event given the potential for such a storm to lower water temperatures and ease the risk of another large coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef.
Meanwhile, another cyclone is bearing down on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar.
Tropical Cyclone Enawo is expected to strike the coast on Tuesday evening, with winds up to 160km/h, Reuters reported.