Wild weather waning as tropical lows form off the coast
High tides peaked this morning as 170mm of rain fell on the Cassowary Coast and 150mm fell at the Daintree overnight with warnings about two tropical lows forming next week.
Cairns
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Wild weekend weather appears to be waning heading into a new week but king tides that caught out motorists in the Cairns CBD will persist until midweek.
Several cars parked on Marlin Parade were partially submerged by higher than normal tides on Sunday which are expected to impact low lying streets until Wednesday March 13.
King tides are running around 30cm higher than normal according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The Bureau’s Shane Kennedy said the Tully River catchment received 170mm of rain and the Daintree received 150mm.
Cairns received 28mm overnight on Sunday.
“I expect the worst of it is now over” he said with both rainfall and winds easing throughout the week.
The Tully River at Euramo on Sunday was at 8.35m which was considered a moderate flood level.
The Daintree River was in minor flood on Sunday and minor flooding occurred along the Mulgrave River.
The Bureau stated onshore winds will weaken and daily rainfall throughout the region will be between 10 and 20mm from Monday.
More than 80.2mm was recorded on Friday at the Cairns Airport, 47.8mm on Saturday and another 28.2mm on Sunday which combined with lighter falls earlier in the month to make a total of 229mm, well above the average May figure of 140.7mm.
Mr Kennedy said that a monsoon system passing through the Torres Strait would draw the rains north of east coast population centres.
A tropical low system is expected to form during the week in the Coral Sea and Gulf of Carpentaria but will most likely stay off shore.
Cairns Regional Council has reminded motorists that tidal flooding is saltwater, which can damage cars on contact. Avoid parking cars in low-lying tidal areas and never drive through floodwaters.
Council advised motorists to drive carefully and slowly, not only for the safety of road users and pedestrians, but to lessen the impact of bow waves, which can push water into nearby properties.
Roads inundated by tidal flooding may be closed to prevent damage to private property.
Motorists are required to adhere to signs advising the road is closed and should find an alternative route until the road is reopened.
The impact of these king tides on low lying areas could be exacerbated by heavy rainfall.
KING TIDE LEVELS FOR CAIRNS
Monday 11 March: 3.42m at 9.49am and 2.96m at 10.01pm
Tuesday 12 March: 3.16m at 10.22am and 2.84m at 10.47pm
Wednesday 13 March: 2.8m at 10.55am
Streets that are most likely to be impacted by king tides include:
· Redden St, Portsmith
· Tingira St, Portsmith
· Liberty St, Portsmith
· Walters St, Portsmith
· Trawler Base Rd, Portsmith
· Bramp Cl, Portsmith
· Cook St, Portsmith
· Fearnley St, Portsmith
· Parts of Aumuller St (near Comport St), Portsmith
· Spence St and the Esplanade intersection, Cairns City
· Parts of Draper St (Hartley St to Kenny Street), Portsmith
· Corner of Lily St and the Esplanade, Cairns North
In the 24 hours to 9am Friday morning, Innisfail had copped 97mm while South Johnstone weather station recorded almost 60mm and 80mm fell in Cairns.
However, in a moderate flood warning issued for the Tully River at 10am Friday, the Bureau of Meteorology said rainfall totals of up to 240mm had been recorded in the 24-hours to Friday morning.
By 2.30pm Friday another 32mm had fallen in South Johnstone and about half that was recorded in Innisfail.
Minor flooding was occurring at Euramo on Friday morning with that possible to increase to moderate flooding by the evening.
During the first seven days of March, Euramo received 80 per cent of the area’s average March rainfall of 461mm, with three weeks of the month remaining.
On Thursday afternoon 379mm of rain had been collected in the gauge since March 1.
In comparison Tully Sugar Mill has copped 393mm since March 1, equating to 52 per cent of the average March rainfall of 745mm to date this month.
BOM issued a minor flood warning update for Euramo on Thursday stating renewed river rises were “possible.”
The Tully River at Euramo on Friday afternoon was at 6.5m, above the minor flood level, and expected to rise further – potentially to 8m by Friday evening.
A minor flood warning was also issued for the Mulgrave River on Friday morning while the Russell River had a flood warning with waters already above moderate flood level.
At 10am Friday the Mulgrave River at Peet’s Bridge was at 5.05m and rising,
In Gordonvale the river was rising above 11.10m, below the minor flood level.
More showers are forecast for the weekend, which may cause further creek and river level rises.
And severe thunderstorms with heavy rainfall are possible from Tully to Wujal Wujal from Friday morning.
Bureau meteorologist Steven Hadley said the exact ranges of expected rainfall totals and where the rain would fall was difficult to pinpoint, but heavy falls would impact Douglas, the Daintree and Cassowary Coast.
“We have strong southeast trade winds blowing and some instability that could cause heavy rain to fall,” he said.
“It may give rise to flash flooding, it’s one to watch in the immediate short term.”
In terms of the longer range forecast, almost on cue to coincide with the peak of the tropical cyclone season, weather models have a tropical low forming in Coral Sea off the Queensland coast late next week.
“From next week a monsoon trough will reform over Far North Queensland and Cape (York) next week and that could give rise to a low pressure system forming,” Mr Hadley said.
“Climatologically, the end of February and the first part of March is the peak time.
“If you look back at history the chance of seeing a cyclone is greatest during this period.”
According to the Australian ACCESS model two tropical low formations will develop in the eastern region.
⛈ï¸Friday's forecast: severe thunderstorms with heavy rainfall are possible on the North Tropical Coast from the early morning. Thunderstorms are possible north of Richmond. Today's warnings: https://t.co/FBmpsInT9opic.twitter.com/gzf8pIX4Bo
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 7, 2024
One appears to power up in the Fiji Meteorological Service area of responsibility near Vanuatu and the second much closer to home in the Coral Sea.
“At the moment there is not anything on (Bureau’s) tropical cyclone page in regard to the Coral Sea,” he said.
“(But next week) there is modelling that shows a low forming that could possibly grow into a deeper system.”
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Originally published as Wild weather waning as tropical lows form off the coast
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