Tropical Cyclone Ului is now heading towards the QLD coast and is expected to strike somewhere between Cardwell and Mackay on Sunday morning. Areas between Cardwell and Yeppoon including the adjacent inland are on Cyclone Watch with damaging winds expected to develop in this region during Saturday.
Ului is currently located about 1000km northeast of Mackay and has steadily weakened from a category 5 to a category 3 system. The cyclone currently appears less organised on the satellite with its eye barely visible- a weakening that the cyclone itself is responsible for. Since the system has been moving very slowly, its winds have been churning up the warm ocean surface, allowing the colder water to come up. Known as "upwelling", this process has lead to Ului's weakening since cyclones require warm ocean waters to fuel them. However, Ului is expected to accelerate and strengthen one again as it approaches the QLD coast.
The heaviest rain is expected at the centre and south of where the cyclone strikes, along with destructive winds and storm surge. But it's not just the Cyclone Watch area that will be impacted by Ului. Coastal conditions as far south as the Gold Coast are also becoming increasingly dangerous with large seas, monster swell and strong winds. Beach erosion is expected at exposed beaches, especially the Sunshine and Fraser coasts.
While tropical cyclones are common in QLD, they don't often cross the coast this far south. The last time we had a category 2 cyclone or higher cross the coast south of Townsville was 18 years ago with TC Fran. It's been a relatively quiet cyclone season too. On average, 13 cyclones appear in the Australian region each season. Ului is only our 6th but a lower number of cyclones is typical in an El Nino year.
Stay tuned to channel 603 where we'll keep you covered on Ului's every turn.
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