Tropical cyclone Penny made landfall along the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, near Weipa, late on
New Year's Day 2019, as a category 1 strength system. The most significant impacts during this event were
not directly associated with Penny, but more so with the monsoon that was active to the north of the
Australian continent at the time. There were reports of multiple fatalities in Papua New Guinea and the
Solomon Islands due to the impacts of monsoonal rain and winds during late December and early
January.
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The tropical low that became Penny was first identified and tracked in the northwest Coral Sea, offshore
of Lockhart River, on 28 December. In the days leading up to New Year's Eve, the low drifted slowly west
across Cape York Peninsula and towards the northern Gulf of Carpentaria. The low quickly showed signs of
development within 24 hours of moving over northern Gulf of Carpentaria waters and by the end of 31 December
the system began to adopt a track back towards the east under the influence of the monsoonal flow to the
north of the system. As the environment around the Gulf of Carpentaria was conducive for development, the
low was able to form into a tropical cyclone and was subsequently named Penny at 7am AEST on New Year's Day,
approximately 100km west of Weipa.
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A 0.8 metre storm surge was recorded by the Weipa storm tide gauge on 1 January, which lead to a marginal
exceedance of the Highest Astronomical Tide level. Large waves were also observed for a brief period at the
Weipa wave monitoring gauge.
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Following landfall, Penny continued to track in an eastwards direction across Cape York Peninsula and
emerged over the northwest Coral Sea on 2 January. The environment in the Coral Sea was conducive for
development and as a result Penny was able to reform into a tropical cyclone by 4pm AEST on 2 January. Over
the next few days, Penny tracked further across the Coral Sea and peaked as a category 2 strength system on
4 January. By 5 January, Penny was slowly weakening and downgraded to a tropical low as it became removed
from the monsoonal flow to the north of the system and as drier mid-level air began to entrain into the
circulation.
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The remnants of Penny tracked back towards the Queensland east coast over the next few days and the system
once more made landfall near Bowen on 9 December. Heavy rainfall occurred in areas of central and northern
Queensland on the days following landfall, including a day where Strathbogie (south of Ayr and west of
Bowen) received 432mm in the 24 hours to 9am on 10 January.
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** All information relating to intensity and track is preliminary information based on operational
estimates and subject to change following post-event analysis*
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