Tropical Cyclone Watch: Cooktown to Palm Island, including Port Douglas, Cairns, Innisfail and Palm Island.
5 MARCH 2026 04:41 EST
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
Tropical Cyclone Advice
Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre
Media: The Standard Emergency Warning Signal should NOT be used with this warning.
PRIORITY
TROPICAL CYCLONE ADVICE NUMBER 4
Issued at 04:41 AM EST on Thursday 05 March 2026
Headline:
Moderate chance of a tropical cyclone off the North Tropical Coast, impacts expected on Friday.
Areas Affected:
Warning zone: None.
Watch zone: Cooktown to Palm Island, including Port Douglas, Cairns, Innisfail and Palm Island.
Cancelled zone: None.
Details of Tropical Low 29U at 4:00 am AEST:
Intensity: Tropical Low, sustained winds near the centre of 65 kilometres per hour with wind gusts to 95 kilometres per hour.
Location: within 45 kilometres of 15.1 degrees South 149.8 degrees East, estimated to be 475 kilometres east northeast of Cairns and 535 kilometres northeast of Cardwell.
Movement: west southwest at 9 kilometres per hour.
Tropical Low 29U lies in the Coral Sea to the north of Willis Island. The low is expected to move to the west-southwest today, taking it towards the North Tropical Coast.
There is a moderate chance of Tropical Low 29U developing into a tropical cyclone before it makes landfall on the North Tropical Coast during Friday.
Hazards:
GALES with wind gusts to 100 km/h are forecast to develop over exposed coastal areas between Port Douglas and Cardwell, including Cairns, from Friday morning. Gales may extend north to Cooktown during Friday morning if the tropical low tracks further north than forecast.
GALES with wind gusts to 100 km/h may extend further south to coastal areas between Cardwell and Palm Island on Friday, if the tropical low tracks south of the forecast track.
HEAVY RAINFALL, which may lead to FLASH FLOODING, is forecast to develop about coastal and adjacent inland areas north of Ingham on Thursday. Heavy rainfall may extend south to Palm Island and adjacent mainland areas on Friday.
Tides are likely to be higher than normal between Port Douglas and Ingham but are not expected to exceed the highest tide of the year.
A Flood Watch is current for northern and far northern catchments.
Recommended Action:
- People between Cooktown and Palm Island, including Port Douglas, Cairns and Innisfail, stay informed by checking your local government s Disaster Dashboards for the latest updates.
- For cyclone preparedness and safety advice, visit the Get Ready Queensland website www.getready.qld.gov.au
- For non-life threatening emergency assistance contact State Emergency Services (SES) online via the SES Assistance QLD App (Apple, Android), online 132500.qld.gov.au, or call 132 500 from anywhere in Queensland.
Cyclone advices and DFES Alerts are available by dialling 13 DFES (13 3337)
A map showing the track of the cyclone is available at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone
