Hello, Sarah here from the Bureau with a severe weather update on Severe
Tropical Cyclone Hayley that's expected to bring destructive winds
and heavy rainfall to the north-west Kimberley coast later today.
Now, Hayley was upgraded to a category four system overnight last night.
And we can see this really well defined eye from the satellite imagery.
However, over the last few hours it has slightly weakened to a category
three system, but it's still really well organised with these curved showers
and storms feeding moisture into the centre of the system.
So here it is currently a category three system, Severe
Tropical Cyclone Hayley, around 215km to the north north-west of Broome.
Now, it has sustained winds near the centre of 155km/h,
but gusting up to 220km/h.
It's moving east south-easterly at around 16km/h and approaching the Kimberley coast
with gale force winds or wind gusts up to 100km/h
expected to develop this afternoon from north of Broome,
all the way up to Cockatoo Island and down southwards towards Derby.
The peak winds, however, are expected to be destructive
to very destructive gusts of 150km/h to 170km/h,
and they're expected to be experienced through northern parts of the Dampier
Peninsula, including Cape Leveque, Beagle Bay and Cockatoo Island,
developing from this afternoon.
As we head into tomorrow morning, however, some of those gales
may start to push inland and eastwards towards Kuri Bay.
So let's take a look at the path of the system here.
It's moving eastwards this afternoon and is expected
to cross the northern parts of that Dampier Peninsula
as a category three system later tonight.
As we head into tomorrow, however, it will cross those, offshore islands and
move onto the Kimberley coast, weakening quite quickly into a tropical low.
Now, it's not just the winds that it will bring, it's also the heavy rainfall
that is expected to be quite concentrated close to the path of the system
and about the coast for today, particularly on that north-western flank,
where we've got those onshore winds pushing the moisture onto the coast.
However, as we head into tomorrow, into Wednesday,
it will move into the Kimberley and drag with it that heavy rainfall
through parts of the Kimberley district before starting to weaken on Thursday.
So potential impacts with this system,
include the potential for trees to be down, large trees, property damage
with those destructive winds as well, powerlines down causing
power outages, heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding,
but as well waves and unusually high tides being whipped up by the system.
And there's also hazardous driving conditions, with the potential
for roads to be closed as roads become impassable.
So if you or anyone you know lives across north-western parts
of the Kimberley district, now's the time to stay up to date with the latest warnings
and tropical cyclone map forecasts via the Bureau website, app and social media.
And as always, listen to the advice from your local emergency services.
Bye for now.