Forecast

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
Tropical Cyclone Advice
Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre

Media: Transmitters serving the area between Onslow and Denham are requested to USE the Standard Emergency Warning Signal before broadcasting the following warning.

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST

TROPICAL CYCLONE ADVICE NUMBER 86
Issued at 07:09 AM WST on Friday 27 March 2026

Headline:
Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle, category 4, is currently impacting the west Pilbara coast with severe impacts extending to the Gascoyne coast this morning.

Areas Affected:
Warning zone: Cape Preston to Jurien Bay, including Onslow, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Carnarvon, Denham and Geraldton, and extending inland to Pannawonica, Murchison and Dalwallinu.

Watch zone: None.

Cancelled zone: None.

Details of Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle 34U at 7:00 am AWST:
Intensity: Category 4, sustained winds near the centre of 175 kilometres per hour with wind gusts to 250 kilometres per hour.
Location: within 30 kilometres of 22.1 degrees South 113.8 degrees East, estimated to be 145 kilometres west southwest of Onslow and 40 kilometres west southwest of Exmouth.
Movement: south southwest at 20 kilometres per hour.
Narelle has started to weaken, but is expected to remain a category 4 system for a few more hours. It is within the vicinity of Exmouth, is turning to the south and is passing close to the North West Cape. Severe impacts are expected from the western Pilbara coast to the northern Gascoyne coast this morning, and then extending south to Carnarvon and Denham during today.
On Saturday, Narelle is expected to be weakening as it moves quickly to the south southeast, with impacts extending to the Central West and then further inland and south across the South West Land Division. During Saturday the strongest winds are expected to be on the eastern side of the system.

Hazards:
VERY DESTRUCTIVE WIND GUSTS up to 250 km/h are occurring over coastal parts between the North West Cape and Onslow and are expected to extend south down the west coast to Coral Bay and Cape Cuvier during this morning. Carnarvon could see wind gusts up to 200 km/h this afternoon, and wind gusts up to 180 km/h could extend to Denham late Friday or early Saturday.
DESTRUCTIVE WIND GUSTS in excess of 125 km/h are occurring along the west Pilbara coast between Onslow and Coral Bay, including Exmouth. DESTRUCTIVE WIND GUSTS in excess of 125 km/h are expected to extend south to Carnarvon and then to Denham during this morning and afternoon, and may extend to Kalbarri and inland parts later today and possibly as far south as Morawa Saturday morning.
GALES with DAMAGING WIND GUSTS to 120 km/h are occurring in coastal areas between Cape Preston and Cape Curvier and are possible over adjacent inland areas to Pannawonica. Gales will extend south to Carnarvon and Denham this morning and further south to Kalbarri and inland, possibly as far east as Murchison, during today. Gales may extend south to Jurien Bay and inland to Dalwallinu during Saturday morning.
A Severe Weather Warning is also current for damaging wind gusts east of Cape Preston and for inland parts of the Pilbara.
HEAVY RAINFALL which may lead to FLASH FLOODING is possible over western parts of the Pilbara, Gascoyne and Central West as Narelle moves past. Areas of INTENSE RAINFALL that may lead to SEVERE FLASH FLOODING are likely to develop about the western Pilbara west of about Onslow this morning, before extending further south into the northwestern Gascoyne later this morning.
Coastal residents between Onslow and Denham are specifically warned of a VERY DANGEROUS STORM TIDE as the cyclone moves south down the Gascoyne coast. Tides will rise significantly above the normal high tide, with DAMAGING WAVES and VERY DANGEROUS FLOODING.
Tides between Cape Preston and Onslow are likely to rise above the normal high tide mark with LARGE WAVES and MINOR FLOODING of low-lying coastal areas.

Recommended Action:
DFES advises:
Ensure you know what to do in a cyclone. For the latest DFES community alerts and warnings visit www.emergency.wa.gov.au or download the Emergency WA app.

Cyclone advices and DFES Alerts are available by dialling 13 DFES (13 3337)

A map showing the track of the cyclone is available at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone

Tropical Cyclone Technical Bulletin: AUSTRALIA - Western Australia
Issued by Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology TROPICAL CYCLONE WARNING CENTRE
at: 1839 UTC 26/03/2026
Name: Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle
Identifier: 34U
Data At: 1800 UTC
Latitude: 21.1S
Longitude: 114.2E
Location Accuracy: within 15nm (30 km)
Movement Towards: southwest (216 deg)
Speed of Movement: 10 knots (18 km/h)
Maximum 10-Minute Wind: 100 knots (185 km/h)
Maximum 3-Second Wind Gust: 140 knots (260 km/h)
Central Pressure: 943 hPa
Radius of 34-knot winds NE quadrant: 150 nm (280 km)
Radius of 34-knot winds SE quadrant: 165 nm (305 km)
Radius of 34-knot winds SW quadrant: 100 nm (205 km)
Radius of 34-knot winds NW quadrant: 110 nm (205 km)
Radius of 48-knot winds NE quadrant: 85 nm (155 km)
Radius of 48-knot winds SE quadrant: 90 nm (165 km)
Radius of 48-knot winds SW quadrant: 55 nm (100 km)
Radius of 48-knot winds NW quadrant: 70 nm (130 km)
Radius of 64-knot winds: 70 nm (70 km)
Radius of Maximum Winds: 20 nm (40 km)
Dvorak Intensity Code: T5.5/5.5/D0.5/24HRS STT:D0.5/06HRS
Pressure of outermost isobar: 1006 hPa
Radius of outermost closed isobar: 200 nm (370 km)

FORECAST DATA
Date/Time : Location : Loc. Accuracy: Max Wind : Central Pressure
(UTC) : degrees : nm (km): knots(km/h): hPa
+06: 27/0000: 22.6S 113.6E: 025 (050): 105 (195): 939
+12: 27/0600: 24.1S 113.7E: 035 (070): 080 (150): 962
+18: 27/1200: 25.8S 114.1E: 040 (075): 070 (130): 971
+24: 27/1800: 27.8S 115.0E: 045 (085): 055 (100): 983
+36: 28/0600: 32.2S 118.1E: 065 (125): 040 (075): 993
+48: 28/1800: None None: None (None): None (None): None
+60: 29/0600: None None: None (None): None (None): None
+72: 29/1800: None None: None (None): None (None): None
+96: 30/1800: None None: None (None): None (None): None
+120: 31/1800: None None: None (None): None (None): None

REMARKS:
Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is impacting the west Pilbara coast. Location was determined from Learmonth radar with very good confidence. Satellite imagery continues to show a large circular and clear eye. Deep convection near the centre has been pulsating over the last 6 hours, but the eye remains large with a diameter of about 40-45 nm. Dvorak analysis: Over the last 3 hours DT=5.5 using an eye pattern with a LG surrounding ring and no Eye adj made due to the large eye. MET is 6.0 based on a D trend. PAT adjusted to 5.5. FT/CI is 5.5 . Recent objective guidance at 1720 UTC: (1-min means): ADT 112 kn, AiDT 107 kn, DPRINT 106 kn, DMINT (1708UTC) 110 kn, SATCON (1700 UTC) 102 kn. Thevenard Island observed gusts to 88 kn around 1740UTC, with a mean 10 min mean up around 64kn at 1700 UTC. Intensity has increased to 100 knots (10-min), slightly higher than the subjective Dvorak and within error bounds of the objective estimates. Environmental conditions are generally favourable as Narelle approaches the North West Cape. SSTs around 29 30 C persist along Narelle s track off the Pilbara coast. Satellite image shows good upper outflow around the system, particularly on the poleward side. Deep layer wind shear is analysed around 10-15 knots easterly at 1500 UTC. Narelle may still intensify over the next 6 hours before interactions with the coast and there remains a slight risk it reaches category 5 intensity. As Narelle moves south today wind shear is forecast to increase and the system may begin to weaken as early as this morning as it also interactions with land. The weakening trend will continue during Friday as land interaction and the shear further increases. Despite this weakening the system is likely to impact the west coast of Western Australia as a severe tropical cyclone. Narelle is being starting to move to the south southwest with an approaching mid level trough in the Indian Ocean and a mid-level ridge over central Australia. The system will take a more southerly track today down the west coast and then south southeast across the South West Land Division during Saturday as the system is steered by the mid level trough. There is high confidence in this track but timing (speed along the track) remains more uncertain, with a possibly crossing location still between the North West Cape and Denham.

Copyright Commonwealth of Australia
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The next bulletin for this system will be issued by: 27/0130 UTC.

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
Western Australia

Warning to Sheep Graziers

for Central West, Lower West, South West, South Coastal, South East Coastal, Great Southern and Central Wheat Belt forecast districts

Issued at 02:14 AM WST on Friday 27 March 2026

Warning to Sheep Graziers for the following areas:
Central West, Lower West, South West, South Coastal, South East Coastal, Great Southern and Central Wheat Belt forecast districts
Sheep graziers are warned that cold temperatures, heavy rain and showers and strong easterly winds are expected during Friday and Saturday. Areas likely to be affected include the Central West, Lower West, South West, South Coastal, Great Southern and Central Wheat Belt forecast districts and parts of the South East Coastal forecast district. There is a risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions.

The next warning will be issued by 11:00 am WST Friday.