- On 14 March a new tropical cyclone named NARELLE formed over the northern Coral Sea, close to the Solomon Islands. It started moving west toward north-eastern Queensland (north-eastern Australia) as a tropical depression, gradually strengthening. On 18 March at 6.00 UTC, its centre was located offshore approximately 890 km east of the coast of the Cape York peninsula (far northern Queensland), with maximum sustained winds of 137 km/h (tropical cyclone).
- On the forecast track, NARELLE is expected to make landfall over the area of the Coen town (eastern Cape York peninsula) on 20 March just after 0.00 UTC, with maximum sustained winds up to 200-205 km/h (equivalent to a cat. 3 hurricane in the Saffir-Simpson scale). After that it is forecast to continue moving west inland over the southern Cape York peninsula on 20 March, slightly weakening.
- Very heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surges are forecast over northern Queensland starting from 19 March for 72 hours. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued a warning zone over the eastern Cape York peninsula.ula.
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