‘At this stage the highest risk of a cyclone impact is in the region north of Mackay.’
An “unusual” tropical cyclone may threaten the Queensland coast by early next week.
A region in the state’s north has been identified as the area most at risk of impact after Tropical Cyclone Jasper strengthened to a severe category three system on Wednesday.
It is forecasted to strengthen into a category four on Thursday and possibly category five by Thursday night as it slowly moves south after developing over the Solomon Sea, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Jasper is not only the first tropical cyclone of the season but is also believed to be the first to form off Australia in December during an El Nino.
“It is rare to see a December cyclone let alone one where we do have El Nino,” a bureau spokesperson told AAP.
“It is unusual to be seeing this. There aren’t too many cyclones we have seen through the month of December let alone early December.”
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Jasper was about 1400km northeast of Cairns off the state’s far north coast earlier on Wednesday.
It is expected to track south-southwest into the Coral Sea and intensify overnight.
Jasper is likely to weaken during the weekend but the…
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