Hurricane Narelle weakening into a tropical depression is continuing to move westward through northern Australia, potentially affecting tourism and weather in the Perth area this weekend.
By the afternoon of March 23 (local time), this tropical depression officially strengthened again into a tropical storm.
Typhoon Narelle is currently located about 722 km east-northeast of Broome (Australia) and has moved west-southwest at a speed of 26 km/h in the past 6 hours.
The storm forecast bulletin from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) shows that Hurricane Narelle is likely to move southward, approaching densely populated and tourist areas of Western Australia, including the vicinity of Perth by the weekend.
In the short term, the Kimberley and coastal areas of northern Western Australia will be directly affected with gusts of up to 90-100 km/h, accompanied by heavy rain that can reach 100-200 mm, causing the risk of flash floods and localized flooding. This is a factor that needs special attention for tourists traveling by road or exploring remote areas.
Some weather forecast models even raise the possibility that the storm will make landfall again, although this scenario is not certain.
Australian meteorologists from the National Center for Scientific Research CSIRO said this is a rare phenomenon when a tropical storm moves across the Australian continent from east to west with a journey of up to 5,000 km.
When passing through land, storms usually weaken into low pressure, but if they return to warm seas, storm Narelle may quickly strengthen again.
