And some light drizzle has just started in Hedland. Its already going mostly sideways with the wind!

Broome just got a good squall through then. Not sure I would like to be on a plane today. Only 35 knts at the airport but where I was down behind the dunes gave the small trees a good flattening with some nice bursts. All you crew down South stay safe and hang on tight.

Hangon Just heard a plane and a helicopter lol. Poor buggers.

Hope you are all safe over there and keep us up to date with whats happening in your part of Australia.
I am sure you have the thoughts of all Nth Qlders as we had from you when Yasi was boring down on us.
Hopefully Lua will not cause too much havoc or destruction and everyone is ok after it is all over.
Thinking of you.

Popeye, the wind currently in Hedland and Karratha is predominantly straight down the runway, so no biggie.

Squalls are common, thats what holding fuel is for.

Im a couple hours away from launching. Should be a fun trip :-)
Gotta run now and do things, be back in a few hours!

Yeah have fun Ali. and get some photos if you can.

Bucketing down here now. Amazing rain. I noticed Broome is monsoonal Hedland is easterly winds still. I guess that will stay that way for a while.

Planes were cancelled in Karratha from 12pm due to the crosswinds....

well I am off to get a few pics before we are no longer allowed out and about. Don't think they will be too exciting, but something for the family to look back on in years to come.

Just got woken by a phone call from work, started getting excited that they had managed to get me on a flight this arvo but no such luck. Looks like I'm stuck here for this one although at least I won't be having to go to work tonight

looks like Virgin is still flying though....scary!

There is benefits though Craig! haha does BHP give you extra days off on the tail end of your days off?

He's lucky he still has his room to stay in lol

Starting to look like Port Headland will miss the very destructive winds at the cyclones core. If thats the case I'm kind of relieved I didn't blow the $2,000 on the chase.

Also a good thing for the residents of Port Hedland who although still likely to be facing dangerous conditions are now likely to escape the worst of it.

Still TC paths are unpredictable so they're not out of the woods yet.

Is Newman in the firing range? best friends son is up there on the mine...

cheers

Is it just me or has this thing wobbled to the E almost ENE ? It appears to anyhow on the latest sat loop, it will continue ESE however pushing it further north than crossing that Port Hedland ?

Very premature to be calling anything of that sort I'd think?

Popeye can you post some wind shear maps, how's it looking for development?

Its not premature to say that current track map puts Port Headland outside of the zone of Very Destructive winds. Check the latest JTWC or BOM track map.

Does this mean that Port Hedland is safe and is definitely not going experience very destructive winds. Certainly not. As per my last comment "Still TC paths are unpredictable so they're not out of the woods yet" which I would have thought clearly communicates that I believe they are still at risk and that the track still could potentially take the destructive core of TC Lua over Port Hedland.

I find it irritating when people pick specific parts of a post and portray them out of context.

Stay safe you guys- our thoughts are with you all. Looks like you are in for a bit of a hammering. (968hPa and falling)- could be a cat 4 when it reaches the coast.

Sorry mate wasn't trying to hurt your feelings. Murphy's law needs to be taken into equation.

Don’t think it was ment in any nastiness, at all Locke.
“people pick specific parts of a post and portray them out of context”

Just some people haven’t gone through this type of wether before and are all hoping it will be just another day, as any first timers aren’t aware of the what can happen, it’s better to make sure that most are clear that it could get dangerous and not to take chances!

All depends on what you would classify destructive wind, in itself very strong wind is fine, it’s the things it picks up and launches at people that cause the destructiveness. So I’d be thinking about seeking shelter regardless, and cyclones can do some strange things especially when they get close to the coast!

And regardless this is a big system and you never know, so saying it isn’t destructive may well be a little confusing? I’d err on the side of ‘extreme’ caution, if you are in a yellow, and especially red alert zone, I’d be battening down. Still could gain strength yet,we wouldn’t want anyone to get complacent this will be a wild ride! So stay safe, and chasers good luck!

To be fair to Locke:

His statement was "Starting to look like Port Headland will miss the very destructive winds at the cyclones core".

This statement is accurate:

Another way of saying this is wind gusts at Port Hedland are expected to remain BELOW 180km/hr (this is very destructive). Destructive winds > 125km/hr will affect a large area and many communities do need to prepare for this.

The latest track/threat map from BOM justifies the above statement
See it for yourself at http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDW60281.shtml

And for the record this is the JWTC forecast
http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/sh1712.gif



People should not unfairly criticise others. Read and understand what people post and do not jump to conclusions.


Edit: storm surge warning (STRONG EMPHASIS)
Taken from the BOM TC Advice at http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDW24100.txt

PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THIS - STRONG EMPHASIS
Residents of Port Hedland and east to Bidyadanga are specifically warned of the very dangerous storm tide expected as the cyclone centre approaches the coast. Tides are likely to rise significantly above the normal high tide mark with damaging waves and very dangerous flooding.

Just thinking the same....I certainly wouldn't want to trade places, all the best for those about to experince TC LUA.