A tropical cyclone watch has been issued for parts of the north west Western Australia coast for Thursday evening / Friday morning. A storm appears to be strengthening and may develop into a Category 1 tropical cyclone on Friday morning 22/1/2021.

At the time of writing, the CIMSS has this storm under "Investigation". A forecast track is not established and the storm is still relatively small and without a distinct eye. The storm has not been named although CIMSS models are showing maximum wind speeds of 30 knots (Approximately 55.5 km/h) as at Thursday evening.

This storm has the potential to strengthen and if it moves southwards as expected, it would cross the coast south west of Broom.

Sea surface temperatures are at 31C and would support a strong storm however, this storm is moving closer to the coast and hence if it formed into a tropical cyclone, its life span would be short due to its proximity to the coastline.

The images attached to this post are from CIMSS modelling and includes a sea surface temperatures plot and a cloud image of the region that is under investigation.

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