The latest storm news from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology on November 19 said that fina is a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 km/h at the center and gusts of up to 100 km/h.
fina is 315km northeast of Darwin and 195km northwest of Minjilang. The storm is moving northeast at a speed of 9 km/h.
Australian typhoon forecasters said Tropical Storm fina will continue moving northeast before strengthening to Category 2 tonight (November 19) before turning towards Australia's coast on November 20.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorological Forecasting Update shows that fina will make landfall west of Minjilang on the morning of November 22 before continuing towards the Tiwi Islands.
Australian Bureau of Meteorological Agency forecaster Jonathan How said that based on current forecasts and models, fina is unlikely to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane.
"The storm is quite close to the coast. To strengthen further, the storm needs to move further away from the coast, over the ocean. In fact, no major monsoons or tropical winds have blown through to increase the storm to Category 3. At this stage, the forecast is level 2" - he said.
A Category 2 hurricane typically has destructive winds, reaching speeds of 125 to 164 km/h.
Forecaster Jonathan How said that as fina approaches land, the storm may begin to weaken.
Also on 19 November, senior weather forecaster from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Miriam Bradbury noted that "there are still several different scenarios" for the latest typhoon near Australia.
"The best estimate at this point is that the storm will move south, then turn southwest, approaching the coast. We are not predicting any direct impact on the Northern Territory of Australia until this weekend. But this is definitely a system that we are monitoring closely even as the storm gradually moves away from today, it is very likely that the storm will return to near the shore this weekend," she said.
Darwin has not recorded a storm since Marcus made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane in 2018. Marcus has left nearly 29,000 households without power. The strongest storm to ever hit Darwin was Hurricane Tracy in December 1974, which devastated the city and killed 66 people.
