Forecast

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

Media: Transmitters serving the area south of Exmouth to Denham and inland to Murchison are requested to USE the Standard Emergency Warning Signal before broadcasting the following warning.

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST

TROPICAL CYCLONE ADVICE NUMBER 92
Issued at 01:07 PM WST on Friday 27 March 2026

Headline:
Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle, category 3, lies just offshore from Coral Bay with coastal crossing expected imminently.

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

Watch zone: None.

Cancelled zone: Onslow and inland to Glen Florrie.

Details of Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle 34U at 1:00 pm AWST:
Intensity: Category 3, sustained winds near the centre of 150 kilometres per hour with wind gusts to 205 kilometres per hour.
Location: within 30 kilometres of 23.4 degrees South 113.7 degrees East, estimated to be 165 kilometres south southwest of Exmouth and 170 kilometres north of Carnarvon.
Movement: south at 23 kilometres per hour.
Narelle is slowly weakening just near the coast of Coral Bay, and is moving south southeast taking it further away from Exmouth towards Carnarvon. Severe impacts are occurring on the far western Pilbara coast and northern Gascoyne coasts, extending south to Carnarvon during this afternoon.
On Saturday, Narelle is expected to be weakening rapidly as it moves quickly to the south southeast over land, 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:
The VERY DESTRUCTIVE CORE of Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle with extreme wind gusts up to 205 km/h is impacting the west coast near Ningaloo and Coral Bay, and is moving south to cross the coast between Coral Bay and Cape Cuvier this afternoon. Carnarvon could see wind gusts up to 190 km/h this afternoon.
DESTRUCTIVE WIND GUSTS in excess of 125 km/h are occurring along the west Pilbara coast between south of Exmouth and Cape Cuvier. DESTRUCTIVE WIND GUSTS in excess of 125 km/h are expected to extend south to Carnarvon and then possibly to Denham this afternoon, and through inland parts of the Central West and adjacent western Gascoyne later today, possibly as far south as Morawa Saturday morning.
GALES with DAMAGING WIND GUSTS to 120 km/h are occurring in coastal areas between west of Onslow and south of Carnarvon, and are possible over adjacent inland areas to Glen Florrie. Gales will extend south to Denham this afternoon and further south to Kalbarri and inland, possibly as far east as Murchison today. Gales may extend south to Jurien Bay and inland to Dalwallinu during Saturday morning.
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 have occurred through the western Pilbara west of Onslow this morning, and will continue to extend further south into the northwestern Gascoyne today.
Coastal residents between Onslow and Denham are specifically warned of a 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 DANGEROUS FLOODING.
A Severe Weather Warning is also current for damaging to locally destructive winds and heavy rainfall on Saturday across much of southwest WA east of Perth and northeast of Albany.

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

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
Western Australia

Fire Weather Warning

for Burrup, Ashburton Inland, Ashburton Coast, Exmouth Gulf Coast and Gascoyne Coast fire weather districts

Issued at 02:16 AM WST on Friday 27 March 2026

Weather Situation
Strong and gusty northeast to southeast winds across the western Pilbara and the western Gascoyne, reaching hurricane force about the coast, as Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle passes near the NW Cape early Friday morning and down the Gascoyne coast during Friday. Winds will tend north to northwesterly to the north of the cyclone during Friday. These winds will drive enhanced fire dangers during Friday, reaching Catastrophic about the Ashburton Coast and Exmouth Gulf Coast.

For the rest of Friday 27 March:
Catastrophic Fire Danger for the following areas:
Ashburton Coast and Exmouth Gulf Coast
Extreme Fire Danger for the following areas:
Burrup, Ashburton Inland and Gascoyne Coast

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services advises you to:
Action your Bushfire Survival Plan now.
Monitor the fire and weather situation through your local radio station, www.emergency.wa.gov.au and www.bom.gov.au.
Call 000 (Triple Zero) in an emergency.

For information on preparing for bushfires go to www.dfes.wa.gov.au.
No further warnings will be issued for this event, but the situation will continue to be monitored and further warnings issued if necessary.