'
'Was struggling to see what all the fuss was about."
the 'fuss', should ALWAYS be about any cyclone ----------- cyclones are like mental patients - you should NEVER turn your back on one
Tracy destroyed an entire city --------- yet, it was deemed close enough to harmless only a short time before. It is well worth reading the history of it -
it is also well worth understanding that the conditions now are different - this El Nino is very different so far and the waters are a LOT warmer --
at best cyclones are unpredictable ------------ on top of their normal erratic potential, there's a rare set of conditions in modern times - so -- the fuss should be about ------------- watch carefully and take basic precautions and be prepared to change plans fast.
it may well come to nothing - but, watch until it's well gone.
And if we think that buildings are safer now than in 1974 ----------- fine. But, I saw cars jammed into walls, huge holes ripped in buses and trucks etc.
if Tracy could do that and tie overhand knots in steel poles - which it did ------------- then, one should never take any cyclone lightly. Not ever.
''Later in the evening, the Darwin meteorological office received an infrared satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's satellite, NOAA-4, showing that the low pressure had developed further and that spiralling clouds could be observed. The storm was officially pronounced a tropical cyclone at around 10 p.m. on 21 December, when it was around 200 km (125 mi) to the north-northeast of Cape Don (360 km (225 mi) northeast of Darwin).[6] Cyclone Tracy was first observed on the Darwin radar on the morning of 22 December.[7]
Over the next few days, the cyclone moved in a southwesterly direction, passing north of Darwin on 22 December. A broadcast on ABC Radio that day stated that Cyclone Tracy posed no immediate threat to Darwin. However, early in the morning of 24 December, Tracy rounded Cape Fourcroy on the western tip of Bathurst Island, and moved in a southeasterly direction, straight towards Darwin.[8] The bureau's weather station at Cape Fourcroy measured a mean wind speed of 120 km/h (75 mph) at 9:00 that morning.[9]
By late afternoon on 24 December, the sky over the city was heavily overcast, with low clouds, and was experiencing strong rain.[10] Wind gusts increased in strength; between 10 p.m. (local time) and midnight, the damage became serious, and residents began to realise that the cyclone would not just pass by the city, but rather over it. On 25 December at around 3:30 a.m., Tracy's centre crossed the coast near Fannie Bay.[7] The highest recorded wind gust from the cyclone was 217 kilometres per hour (135 mph), which was recorded around 3:05 a.m. at Darwin Airport.[7] The anemometer (wind speed instrument) failed at around 3:10 a.m., with the wind vane (wind direction) destroyed after the cyclone's eye passed over.[7] The Bureau of Meteorology's official estimates suggested that Tracy's gusts had reached 240 kilometres per hour (150 mph).[11] The lowest air pressure reading during Tracy was 950 hectopascals (28.05 inHg), which was taken at around 4 a.m., by a Bureau staff member at Darwin Airport.[7] This was recorded during the eye of the cyclone.[7] From around 6:30 a.m., the winds began to ease, with the rainfall ceasing at around 8:30 a.m.[7] After making landfall, Tracy rapidly weakened, dissipating on 26 December.[7] Total rainfall in Darwin from Cyclone Tracy was at least 255 mm (10.0 in).[12]''
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Tracy[/sup]
this is Tracy's track --------- good luck predicting this kind of thing
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