Key Points
Cyclone tracking toward heavily populated Queensland coastal stretch
Storm expected to intensify to category 3 by Thursday
Multiple forecast models predict potential weekend landfall
Regions already experiencing initial wind and wave impacts
Tropical cyclone Alfred was expected to turn toward the coast of the state of Queensland over the weekend, citing weather models that predict systems up to two weeks in advance.
According to the models, the system was expected to make landfall next week between Brisbane and the city of Townsville, a highly-populated stretch of coast over 1,000 km long that includes the cities of Mackay, Rockhampton, and Bundaberg as well as several popular tourism destinations.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), which forecasts the track map of cyclones up to four days in advance, said on Wednesday morning that Alfred was about 1,000 km east of Townsville in the northern Coral Sea and slow-moving.
It said that the storm was at category two intensity, with wind gusts of up to 140 km per hour, and expected to reach category three strength on Thursday.
"There is high confidence that Alfred will remain well off the Queensland coast until late in the week. The track is highly uncertain in the weekend with the risk of Alfred moving closer to the Queensland coast."
Communities in and around Townsville on Queensland's tropical north coast were in the process of cleaning up and recovering after being hit by catastrophic flooding earlier in February, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
The Global Forecast System (GFS) predicts Alfred will track west this weekend and make landfall in Central Queensland by Tuesday.
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model - often touted as one of the world's best - expects the system to make landfall between Townsville and Bundaberg by Sunday.
Impacts are already being felt in Queensland with the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast to receive intensifying wind gusts and powerful waves.
