I’ve been trying to keep an eye on severe cyclone Christine, but news articles leaking out onto the web mostly seem to be old. I haven’t found reliable wind radar or wind speed records on the web.

Thankfully, the reports so far say that there is only minor damage in Port Hedland and Karratha/Dampier.

Port Hedland got a heap more rain and storm surge than Karratha/Dampier, not so much because the Cyclone passed closer, but because all the winds at Port Hedland came in off the sea whereas those at Karratha/Dampier came up off the land. In addition, the wind and heavy rain at Port Hedland started long before the Cyclone hit the coast, and are still continuing more than 8 hours later.

The predicted track, with a major turn in direction as Christine crosses to coast, has been well matched by the actual track. It’s now heading for Tom Price as predicted, but Tom Price so far has received only a negligible amount of rain.

Radar Loop
Complete Track & ABC News
Forecast track

mollwollfumble said:

I’ve been trying to keep an eye on severe cyclone Christine, but news articles leaking out onto the web mostly seem to be old. I haven’t found reliable wind radar or wind speed records on the web.

Thankfully, the reports so far say that there is only minor damage in Port Hedland and Karratha/Dampier.

Port Hedland got a heap more rain and storm surge than Karratha/Dampier, not so much because the Cyclone passed closer, but because all the winds at Port Hedland came in off the sea whereas those at Karratha/Dampier came up off the land. In addition, the wind and heavy rain at Port Hedland started long before the Cyclone hit the coast, and are still continuing more than 8 hours later.

The predicted track, with a major turn in direction as Christine crosses to coast, has been well matched by the actual track. It’s now heading for Tom Price as predicted, but Tom Price so far has received only a negligible amount of rain.

Radar Loop
Complete Track & ABC News
Forecast track

Such things are always more wet and windy onto the coast rather than after landfall. It will be more down to how much moist air the system drags on land with it.

Found a new BOM website called MetEye Has an annoyingly small window but after zooming, panning, getting rid of popups, and clicking on Wind Speed and Cloud Cover it looks OK.

Christine should bring some much needed rain to the interior of WA. The track is even predicted to head for Adelaide – but that’s a long time away yet.

mollwollfumble said:

Found a new BOM website called MetEye Has an annoyingly small window but after zooming, panning, getting rid of popups, and clicking on Wind Speed and Cloud Cover it looks OK.

Christine should bring some much needed rain to the interior of WA. The track is even predicted to head for Adelaide – but that’s a long time away yet.

For most of us in SA and south western NSW and Victoria, await such events eagerly because this is how we receive most of our decent rainfalls.

From Perth News, a few minutes ago. (It’s a fairly jumbled report, still early in the morning there so they’re mixing up current and old news).

“The cyclone crossed the coast about midnight, near Roebourne and Whim Creek, but the North West appears to have escaped with minimal destruction. … a family had to bunker down in the bathroom of their house in Wickham, north of Roebourne, when their roof was ripped off by ferocious winds … The system has dumped enormous rainfall across a wide area … early today the cyclone had begun to weaken and has been downgraded to a Category Two storm, but is still packing destructive winds up to 155km/h at its centre.”

If I were superstitious, I’d be a bot worried that this Cyclone watch started the day of my Mother in Laws funeral.. and her name was Christine.

Arts said:

If I were superstitious, I’d be a bot worried that this Cyclone watch started the day of my Mother in Laws funeral.. and her name was Christine.

Nah, She missed Perth by a long way.

This is fun. A report on cyclone Christine in Pidgin for out PNG neighbours.

If you’ve never read Pidgin, read it out loud and you’ll understand most of it. eg.
“bilong” = belong
“makim despela” = make him this fellow
“win” = wind
“senta” = centre
etc.

I suspect that there’s a lot of rain that the rain radar isn’t picking up, simply because it’s too far inland in Western Australia to get an accurate reading from the nearest rain radar stations (Port Hedland airport, Dampier, Learmouth, Carnarvon).

mollwollfumble said:

I suspect that there’s a lot of rain that the rain radar isn’t picking up, simply because it’s too far inland in Western Australia to get an accurate reading from the nearest rain radar stations (Port Hedland airport, Dampier, Learmouth, Carnarvon).

Not much radar out there until it gets within Giles.

Cyclone Christine rated only 30 seconds on news coverage on ABC TV. :-(

Little damage except in the centre of its path. Must be due to good building codes – thanks CSIRO.

It’s been downrated now to Category 1 and the other fringes are begging to drop rain on Kalgoorlie (and Esperence?)

mollwollfumble said:

Cyclone Christine rated only 30 seconds on news coverage on ABC TV. :-(

Little damage except in the centre of its path. Must be due to good building codes – thanks CSIRO.

because nobody lives near Whim Creek, the Tropical Cyclone Capital of Australia.

there’s a pub at whim creek.

ChrispenEvan said:

there’s a pub at whim creek.

It’s been blown down and re-built a few times, according to Wiki.

Getting close to Kalgoorlie now. North-east of Kalgoorlie heading for Ceduna.

mollwollfumble said:

Getting close to Kalgoorlie now. North-east of Kalgoorlie heading for Ceduna.

The edge of it is around 100 km east of Esperance, with luck we might get some to top-up the water tanks.

>>Getting close to Kalgoorlie now. North-east of Kalgoorlie heading for Ceduna.<<

What?! You mean this rain I have been addressing as “Christine” all afternoon is an imposter?

We usually get some rain about a week after the west coast gets a cyclone, given the right trajectory. I thought this lady was just a bit speedier than usual…..

buffy said:

>>Getting close to Kalgoorlie now. North-east of Kalgoorlie heading for Ceduna.<<

What?! You mean this rain I have been addressing as “Christine” all afternoon is an imposter?

We usually get some rain about a week after the west coast gets a cyclone, given the right trajectory. I thought this lady was just a bit speedier than usual…..

For some odd reason she had a very long arm. What remains of her centre is now a few km north of Adelaide.

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

>>Getting close to Kalgoorlie now. North-east of Kalgoorlie heading for Ceduna.<<

What?! You mean this rain I have been addressing as “Christine” all afternoon is an imposter?

We usually get some rain about a week after the west coast gets a cyclone, given the right trajectory. I thought this lady was just a bit speedier than usual…..

For some odd reason she had a very long arm. What remains of her centre is now a few km north of Adelaide.

She married a low pressure trough that was passing by.