Tropical Cyclone Narelle traced a long path across the northern edge of Australia, bringing damaging winds and rain to areas already saturated with abundant precipitation. The system made separate landfalls in three different states and territories between March 20 and 23, 2026.<\/p>\n
These satellite images show Narelle at about 2 p.m. local time (04:00 Universal Time) on March 19. By that time, the tropical cyclone was poised to make its first and most powerful landfall after intensifying over the Coral Sea. Sea surface temperatures\u00a0along its path were 0.5\u20131.0 degrees Celsius above average, experts noted<\/a>, which helped fuel its rapid intensification<\/a>.<\/p>\n As it approached Queensland, the storm intensified to a category 5 on Australia\u2019s tropical cyclone scale<\/a> with maximum sustained winds up to 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour\u2014equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale<\/a>. However, because Narelle\u2019s structure was compact by cyclone standards, the most damaging winds extended a relatively short distance<\/a> from its core. Narelle reached the Cape York Peninsula, a sparsely populated region in northern Queensland, on the morning of March 20.<\/p>\n Narelle re-emerged over the Gulf of Carpentaria as a weakened cyclone, and wind speeds continued to decline as it neared the Northern Territory\u2019s coast. The storm made its second landfall<\/a> on the afternoon of March 21 with maximum sustained winds up to 148 kilometers (92 miles) per hour. It traversed the territory\u2019s \u201cTop End<\/a>\u201d until March 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than 100 millimeters (4 inches) of rain fell across a wide area of the Northern Territory during Narelle\u2019s passage, according to news reports<\/a>. Australia\u2019s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warned<\/a> of minor to major flooding of several rivers. The storm arrived amid a severe wet season<\/a> in the region that had already caused damaging floods and prompted evacuations.<\/p>\n After exiting the Northern Territory, the storm briefly crossed water and reached the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia as a tropical low on March 23. Even after Narelle\u2019s multiple strikes in northern Australia, the storm may keep going. On March 23, the BOM said<\/a> Narelle could potentially re-intensify into a tropical cyclone off the coast of Western Australia, curve south, and track along the coastline toward Perth.<\/p>\n Cyclones with several landfalls on mainland Australia are rare but not unheard of. In 2005, Ingrid<\/a> followed a similar path to Narelle. That \u201ctriple-strike\u201d storm, however, made landfall each time as a category 3 tropical cyclone or higher.<\/p>\n NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using VIIRS data\u00a0from NASA\u00a0EOSDIS LANCE<\/a>,\u00a0GIBS\/Worldview<\/a>, and the\u00a0Joint Polar Satellite System<\/a>\u00a0(JPSS).<\/em> Story by Lindsey Doermann.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/esd\/eo\/images\/iotd\/2026\/tropical-cyclone-narelle-crosses-australia\/aus_narelle_vir2_20260319_lrg.jpg?w=2160&h=1440&fit=clip&crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\")
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