Weather News

Olga to avoid Australian mainland

Quincy Tut, Sunday April 7, 2024 - 15:21 AEST

Western Australia has managed to steer clear of a time change back to standard time on Sunday morning, unlike the country's southeastern states. But daylight savings isn't the only thing the state will miss out on.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Olga, a Category 4 System centred about 470km northwest of Broome, has picked up sustained winds of 165km/h towards the eye of the storm, gusting at 230km/h on Sunday afternoon. In terms of wind speed, this puts Olga as stronger than Megan, Kirrily and Lincoln, which all occurred earlier in the season.

Figure: Track map of Olga issued in the afternoon of Sunday, April 7th. A more recent track map may be available, check here.

However, due to enhanced wind shear towards the Pilbara coast and a mid-level subtropical high-pressure ridge over WA's south, Olga is taking the easier path, parallel and at about 200-400km from the Pilbara coast, avoiding it altogether.

Image: Himawari Infrared imagery of Severe Tropical Cyclone Olga just after 11:30am local time on Sunday, April 7th.

Olga is expected to deteriorate quickly from Sunday evening and may weaken to a tropical low from as early as Tuesday afternoon. Even as a tropical low, there is a chance that the system could still bring heavy rainfall about the Gascoyne coast as it continues to move west.

Figure: ECMWF 24-hour rainfall forecast to 8pm Thursday local time.

Another tropical low could develop to the north of the Northern Territory into early next weekend. Be sure to keep up to date on the latest warnings here.

- Weatherzone

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