Residents of Queensland, Australia Watching Cyclone Ului Approaching

Tropical Cyclone Ului has been almost sitting still in the Coral Sea for the last couple of days, but is once again moving and headed for a landfall in northeastern Queensland, Australia by the weekend.

At 1500 UTC (11 a.m. ET) on Wednesday, March 17, Tropical Cyclone Ului was located approximately 730 nautical miles east of Cairns, Australia, near 14.6 South and 158.0 East. It had maximum sustained winds near115 mph (100 knots) and is expected to maintain that intensity over the next day. Ului was moving south-southeast at 5 mph (4 knots) after being quasi-stationary for almost one and a half days. Ului is generating waves up to 23 feet high in the Coral Sea.

Tomas Moving Away from Fiji Islands After Causing Damages

Cyclone Tomas hit the north and east areas of Fiji as a Category 4 Cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, and has now moved south of them. NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite captured an image of the heavy rains that were falling in Tomas during his swath of destruction in the Fiji Islands.

Today, March 17, at 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT), Tomas was 710 miles southeast of Nadi, Fiji, near 27.0 South and 174.7 West and was a Category One cyclone. Tomas has maximum sustained winds near 86 mph (75 knots) and was speeding south-southeast at 31 mph (27 knots). Tomas is a large cyclone with hurricane-force winds extending 65 miles from the center, and tropical storm-force winds extending as far as 215 miles from the center. That makes Tomas 430 miles in diameter.

The Fiji Meteorological Service issued bulletin 32 at 2:40 p.m. EDT on March 16, which would be March 17 at 7:40 a.m. Fiji local time. At that time, the tropical cyclone warning for the Fiji group of islands was canceled. However, a Strong Wind Warning remained in force for Southern Lau only. Southern Lau was forecast to experience winds from the southwest to the northwest, waning later today. Tomas is also creating very rough seas with waves up to 23 feet and heavy swells. The rest of the Fiji islands will experience moderate to rough seas today as Tomas continues to track south and away from the islands.

Tropical cyclone Tomas near the International Dateline in the South Pacific on March 15 at 2123 UTC (5:23 p.m. EDT). TRMM detected very heavy rainfall of over 50 mm/hr (~2 inches) mainly in Tomas’ southeastern quadrant.