Cyclone Ului
 

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului was first identified by the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) late on 9 March On 12 March it was upgraded to Tropical Cyclone Ului. By early on 13 March, it was a category 2 cyclone. Later that day, Ului strengthened into a category 3 making it a severe tropical cyclone. The storm continued to strengthen throughout the day and that night it became a category 5. Ului remained as a category 4 and had weakened to a category 3 system in the early hours of 18 March .

Since passing by The Solomons Ului has become under increasing observation of the Queensland authorities and warnings started being to coastal residents. Alert and not alarm is the message and an area from Cairns to Yeppoon was under notice. At this stage Ului is still around 1300km's due east of Cooktown.

Ului was still to play a major influence in QLD weather which was currently experiencing very strong winds due to a massive high pressure system situated down south. This system had been directing solid 30 knott winds to the Central Coast and Whitsunday region for many days. Ului just squeezed those gradients a little and kept the winds nice and stiff. The seas were already on the rise and Ului is just giving them the extra push.

Authoriities predict that Ului will track further south in their earlier models which prematurely cause4d the evacuation f a couple of GBR islands Heron and Lady Elliott. Funnily enough the media reported these islands to be a part of The Whitsunday group although they are closer to Brisbane than The Whitsundays. Beautiful islands just nowhere near The Whitsundays.

The stiff high that is still stubbornly situiated in the Tasman is proving rather stubborn and as Ului started to track on it's predicted travel south it found the high offered a bit of resistance and Ului has taken the easier option and is starting to track in a more westerly direction.

This has put a twist in the computer models and the authorities now have ammended their warnings to Townsville and Yeppoon with the most likely scenario being cebtral coast/ Whitsunday areas inclding Bowen.

So now we are on the alert and the major resorts are starting to adopt their cyclone safety measures. It uis a big task to secure the resorts and had been practised many times, usually for false alarms thankfully, this time it looks as though it will be for good reason.

Boats are secured and items packed away. Some of the smaller resorts may choose to get their guests to the mainland, while islands like Hamilton will move people to the more secure and secluded areas. Hamilton is built to withstand these things if that is possible.