Tropical cyclone Linda was a short-lived cyclone that formed and decayed over the Coral Sea in under
24 hours on March 13th and 14th, 2018. It was the first tropical cyclone to occur in the Eastern Region
during the 2017/18 cyclone season.
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A tropical low formed over the Solomon Islands on March 11th and drifted south for the next couple of days
while slowly developing. Atmospheric conditions were not ideal for tropical cyclone development. The system
struggled to reach tropical cyclone status, but was eventually named Linda at 4 pm on March 13th.
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The system turned southwest and persisted as a tropical cyclone overnight, but by the next day atmospheric
conditions had deteriorated further and Linda transitioned to a subtropical low at 10 am on March 14th. The
remnant low turned south and then southeast, passing within about 300 kilometres of Fraser Island at its
closest approach to Australia. It decayed well off the southern Queensland coast over the next couple of
days.
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The only impacts produced by Linda were large waves about the southern Queensland coast. Many beaches were
closed due to dangerous surf south of Fraser Island on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th of March. Maximum
wave heights of up to 8 metres were recorded off the Sunshine Coast, and beach scarping of 1 metre occurred
on the Gold Coast.
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