Tropical Cyclone Watch Issued for Cooktown to Lucinda as Tropical Low 29U Develops
This alert is no longer in effect.
BOM issued it on April 6, 2026, 4 months ago. Warnings of this kind stay in effect for hours to a few days, so this page is a historical record of what was issued, not a current warning. For conditions where you are right now, check weather.gov (US), weather.gc.ca (Canada), the Met Office (UK), or the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia).
Areazine synthesizes this BoM weather warning directly from BOM's official public data feed. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a tropical cyclone watch for Queensland's North Tropical Coast as Tropical Low 29U moves toward the region with a moderate chance of intensification.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Tropical Cyclone Watch
- Affected area
- North Tropical Coast, Queensland
- Issued
- April 6, 2026
- Issuing authority
- BOM
The warning type, named area, and issue time define this record. Confirm all three against the original agency notice before treating it as current.
Record status: historical. It was issued 4 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in North Tropical Coast, Queensland.
Alert Details
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued Tropical Cyclone Advice Number 1 for Tropical Low 29U. This is a major warning group alert indicating a moderate chance of a tropical cyclone developing off the North Tropical Coast before making landfall on Friday.
Affected Areas
A Watch Zone is currently in effect for the following regions in Queensland:
- Cooktown to Lucinda
- Port Douglas
- Cairns
- Innisfail
- Palm Island
What You Should Do
Residents in the watch zone are advised to take the following actions:
- Stay informed by checking local government Disaster Dashboards for the latest updates.
- Visit the Get Ready Queensland website (www.getready.qld.gov.au) for cyclone preparedness and safety advice.
- For non-life-threatening emergency assistance, contact the State Emergency Services (SES) at 132 500 or via the SES Assistance QLD App.
Expected Conditions
As of 10:00 am AEST, Tropical Low 29U was located approximately 560 kilometres northeast of Cairns, moving west-northwest at 10 kilometres per hour.
- Wind: Sustained winds near the centre are 65 km/h with gusts to 95 km/h. Gales with gusts to 100 km/h are forecast to develop over exposed coastal areas between Port Douglas and Cardwell, including Cairns, starting Thursday evening. These winds may extend north to Cooktown or south to Palm Island depending on the system's track.
- Rainfall: Heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding is forecast for coastal and adjacent inland areas north of Ingham starting Thursday, potentially extending south to Palm Island on Friday.
- Tides: Tides are likely to be higher than normal between Port Douglas and Ingham, though they are not expected to exceed the highest tide of the year.
Timeline
- Alert Issued: 10:53 am EST, Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
- Gale Development: Expected Thursday evening, March 5.
- Potential Landfall: Forecast for Friday, March 6.
- Next Update: Scheduled for 5:00 pm AEST, Wednesday, March 4.
Original source: BOM Official Notice ↗
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