WeatherFanatics: Queensland on Alert as Tropical Lows Approach

By Eric Leister, Meteorologist

March 8,2014; 9:07PM,EST

A tropical low moving through the Arafura Sea has formed into Gillian while and another in the Coral Sea has become better organized in the past 24 hours.
Both storms will push towards Queensland over the next few days as they bring rain and stronger winds with them.
Gillian will push southeast over the next day or two and approach the eastern coast of the Cape of Carpentaria.

A satellite image from Friday showing two tropical lows near Queensland, Australia.
Heavy rain will fall across the Cape York Peninsula leading to flash flooding. Rainfall amounts of 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) are expected with locally higher amounts. Winds of 60-80 kph (40-50 mph) will batter the coast from Kowanyama to Mapoon.
The storm will then weaken as it crosses the Cape York Peninsula, and will likely weaken to a remnant low over northern Queensland early next week.
The tropical low currently over the open Coral Sea to the east of Cairns is also expected to become a named tropical cyclone in the next day.
This storm will track westerly through Sunday before turning sharply to the south. This track will keep the storm off the coast through early next week.
The storm will likely approach the central coast of Queensland on Monday bringing locally damaging winds near Townsville to Mackay. Flooding will also be a threat as heavy rains are expected over the same regions.
This storm may stall offshore from Sunday through Tuesday leading to several days of locally heavy rainfall. The storm will then likely turn and track back to the northeast away from coastal Queensland by the middle of the week.
Due to the slow movement of this storm near the coast, rainfall amounts of 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) will be possible with locally up to 300 mm (12 inches).
Updated by AccuWeather Meteorologist Alan Reppert

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