Hi there all,

I am sure that you will have seen news reports that a Category 5 cyclone is hitting just south of Cairns and north of Townsville at the moment.   The storm, with winds up to 186 mph  is a huge one and it must be terrifying to be sitting in its path, waiting for it to ‘hit’.   We have sent messages to all our colleagues that live in this area and we hope that they all ‘weather the storm well’!

It seems that this has been a wild few weeks for Australia’s Top End and Queensland with the recent floods and now this cyclone. Hurricanes and cyclones are essentially the same type of weather system. The determining factor on whether it is a hurricane or cyclone is dependent on the location of the weather system.

For up-to-date information on the Cyclone Yasi please visit:

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml