Draft:Cyclone Narelle (2026)

Late on 9 March, the BoM began to forecast a tropical low forming in the eastern Coral Sea in the next 7 days, and pre-designated it as 34U. This came to fruition six days later on the 15th, when the BoM reported that it had developed to the south of the Solomon Islands. That same day, the low pressure system was officially designated a tropical low. The low-pressure system temporarily tracked to the west at a slow pace, and then preceded to quickly dip to the south. Only a single day after the disturbance formed, it was observed by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center while still classified as a tropical low by the BoM. On 17 March, the BoM classified the tropical low as a Category 1 tropical cyclone near Papua New Guinea, assigning it the name Narelle. The tropical cyclone preceded to intensify at a moderate pace, later becoming hurricane force on 18 March.^[4] Narelle started to accellerate towards the Australian state of Queensland at an unusually fast pace of 24 km/h (15 mph).^[5] Later on 18 March, Narelle was officially tagged a severe tropical cyclone by the BoM, officially becoming the sixth one in the season.

The next day on 19 March, Narelle reached Category 5 intensity, surpassing Fina as the strongest storm of the season.^[5] At it's peak intensity, the Bureau of Meteorology estimated that Narelle held 10-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph), gusts of 315 km/h (195 mph) and pressure levels of 925 hPa (mbar). The Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated 1-minute sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph) and pressure levels of 926 hPa (mbar).^[5] At 07:00 local time on 20 March 2026, Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle made landfall 200 kilometres (120 mi) east-southeast of Weipa, Queensland as a high-end Category 4 severe tropical cyclone. Over the day, Narelle would rapidly weaken due to the landfall, and when it escaped the Queensland coast at 18:00 local time, Narelle had weakened back into a Category 2 tropical cyclone. Now in the Gulf of Carpentaria, the cyclone began re-intensifying in the gulf, reaching a secondary peak intensity the following afternoon.^[5] Narelle had winds of 150 km/h (95 mph) as estimated by the JTWC at this stage.^[6][7]

At 03:30 local time on 22 March 2026, Narelle made it's secondary landfall near Point Arrowsmith, East Arnhem.^[5] Narelle started to weaken significantly after it's second landfall, crossing the Northern Territory moving westward.^[5] The following evening, Narelle collapsed into a tropical low but still persisted with it's movement towards Kimberley. The next morning, Narelle had escaped land for the second time, persisting as a tropical low, and at 16:00 that same day, Narelle made a tertiary landfall in Kimberley with 1-minute sustained winds of 70 km/h (45 mph).^[5] On 24 March at 12:00, the cyclone escaped Kimberley and successfully entered the Indian Ocean, cementing itself as one of few Australian region tropical cyclones to be present in both the Coral Sea and the Indian Ocean. By this stage, Narelle was a weak, broad system presented with favourable conditions ahead. Throughout the next few days, Narelle would re-intensify in the area, becoming a severe tropical cyclone again on 25 March. As of right now, Narelle is at Category 4 strength, expected to make a quaternary landfall near Exmouth.^[8]

In response to the approach of Narelle, from Bureau of Meteorology, the Queensland State Emergency Service, in coordination with the Australian Defence Force, initiated a massive logistical operation to pre-position food, medical supplies, and satellite communication across the Cape York Peninsula; additionally, tourists have been evacuated and schools were closed ahead of the cyclone.^[9]

Ergon Energy estimated that 3,000 properties lost power due to strong winds from Narelle.^[10] with up to 400mm rainfall is expected in some area of impact. while wind gusts up to 115 kilometres per hour (71 mph) were recorded in Lockhart River.^[11] Throughout Far North Queensland, the regional police have not found any deaths, injuries or significant damages.^[1] Perth is also expecting the most March rainfall the city has seen in 91 years, since 1934.^[12]

Over 1,200 customers lost electricity across Cape York. Telephone signals were also lost in western coastal communities like Aurukun and A pre-emptive evacuation of 500 residents from Numbulwar to Darwin remained in place for several days due to local inundation and the risk of waterborne disease.

• Weather of 2026
• Tropical cyclones in 2026
• List of Queensland tropical cyclones
• 2025–26 Australian region cyclone season
• Cyclone Mahina (1899) – a similarly strong cyclone which impacted the same general area
• Cyclone Jasper (2023) – another storm of comparable intensity that impacted northern Queensland
• Cyclone Steve (2000) - a weaker storm that also took a similar track to Narelle 26 years earlier
• Cyclone Ingrid (2006) - another storm with a very similar intensity which impacted the same area of Queensland 20 years prior