A tropical Cyclone has made landfall north of Broome (Western Australia) which is the second such storm to cross the coast in recent weeks within the same region.
The storm was named Launa and was relatively large at landfall. In terms of strength, it is difficult to ascertain this given that only one weather station recorded a peak wind gust to 106 km/h (Lombadina).
However, it was estimated that at peak intensity, the storm may have sustained peak wind gusts to 130 km/h whilst the core of the storm was still out to sea.
It would appear that under the Australian Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale, the storm would have been rated a Category 2 system but under the Saffir Simpson Scale, the storm would most likely have been rated a Category 1 system.
The storm brought significant rainfall to the area including:
- Yampi Sound - 119 mm.
- Lombardina - 158.4 mm
- Derby - 191.2 mm.
Figures are to 9 am Sunday morning 25 January 2026.
The weather station at Lombardina recorded 61.8 mm, 158.4 mm and 52 mm across a three day period for a total of 272.2 mm to 9 am Monday morning.
With this system, cloud from the storm has since streamed south into the Great Australian Bight which is merging with higher latitude frontal systems.
Over coming days, it is expected that the remnants of the storm will provide useful rainfall across outback regions of the state that rarely experiences rainfall.
I have attached an image of the storm at landfall north of Broome Western Australia via NASA Zoom Earth being the feature image.