Summary
A weak tropical low, 28U, formed in the Indian Ocean about 450 km to the west southwest of Christmas Island on 1 March 2026. The system moved generally east southeast over the next few days, passing to the south of Christmas Island overnight on 2 March as a tropical low.
Despite an unfavourable environment, the small system strengthened on 2 and 3 March while over open waters south of Indonesia. Combined with a strong monsoon flow, gale force winds developed in the northern quadrants from 0600 UTC 4 March (1400 WST 4 March) for 30 hours. From 5 March 28U started to interact with tropical low 30U, a larger system to the south and off the Western Australian coast, through the Fujiwhara effect. This caused 28U to orbit around the periphery of 30U, making it accelerate to the northeast and then to the southeast. Being a small system, combined with the interaction with 30U and an increasingly hostile environment, 28U weakened quickly on 6 March as it moved south, dissipating early on 7 March off the Kimberley coast.
Christmas Island recorded 49.0 mm in the 24 hours to 9am 3 March (Christmas Island local time) as the low passed to the south. No impacts to mainland Western Australia occurred from this system. Gales were confined to the northern quadrants and thus it did not reach tropical cyclone status.
Track and Intensity (Times in AWST, UTC+8h)
