Weather News

Cyclone Frances keeping its distance

Ben Domensino, Friday April 28, 2017 - 11:02 AEST

Tropical Cyclone Frances is intensifying rapidly to the north of Australia and may become a severe tropical cyclone by tonight.

Fortunately, the system is not expected to make landfall and will have little effect on the Australian mainland based on the current forecast.

Frances intensified rapidly during the past 12 hours, transitioning from a tropical low on Thursday afternoon into a category two tropical cyclone this morning.

The system will strengthen further today and may become a category three severe tropical cyclone by tonight.

As long as Cyclone Frances stays on its current track towards the west southwest, it won't have much of an impact on Australia's mainland. Should it move a bit further to the south though, gales may occur along the north Kimberley coast during the next 24 hours. As a precaution, a Cyclone Warning has been issued for coastal areas between Kuri Bay and Wyndham, not including Wyndham itself.

Cyclone Frances will lose strength on the weekend as it moves into a less supportive environment and should drop below cyclone intensity by Sunday evening.

Tropical cyclones are dynamic systems and their forecasts can change, so keep up to date with the latest cyclone advisories and weather warnings at: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings.jsp

- Weatherzone

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