Source: Bureau of Meteorology

TROPICAL CYCLONE ADVICE NUMBER 62
Issued at 3:07 pm WST on Wednesday 25 March 2026

Headline:
Tropical Cyclone Narelle, now Category 2 and expected to be severe overnight. Potential severe impacts for the west Pilbara and Gascoyne coasts.

Areas Affected:
Warning Zone
Sandfire to Coral Bay, including Port Hedland, Karratha, Onslow and Exmouth, and extending inland to Pannawonica.

Watch Zone
Coral Bay to Kalbarri, including Carnarvon and Denham, and extending inland to Gascoyne Junction and Murchison.

Cancelled Zone
Bidyadanga to Sandfire.

Details of Tropical Cyclone Narelle 34U at 2:00 pm AWST:
Intensity: Category 2, sustained winds near the centre of 110 kilometres per hour with wind gusts to 155 kilometres per hour.

Location: within 35 kilometres of 17.7 degrees South 119.0 degrees East, estimated to be 295 kilometres north of Port Hedland and 405 kilometres north northeast of Karratha.

Movement: west southwest at 23 kilometres per hour.

Tropical Cyclone Narelle is now a Category 2 tropical cyclone and is expected to continue to intensify to reach severe (category 3) intensity tonight.

Narelle is moving west southwest, roughly parallel to the Pilbara coast. Narelle is larger than usual and although the cyclone is located well north of the Pilbara, gales are likely to extend to the coast this afternoon and evening.

Later Friday, Narelle will turn towards the south, likely passing close to the North West Cape as a Category 4 system.

There is the potential for a severe impact on the far western Pilbara coast late Thursday, extending south to Denham during Friday.

On Saturday Narelle is expected to be weakening as it moves quickly to the south southeast with impacts extending to the Central West and then further inland and south across the South West Land Division.

Hazards:
VERY DESTRUCTIVE GUSTS up to 260 km/h may develop west of Onslow later on Thursday as Narelle moves closer to the NW Cape, and possibly extending south to Carnarvon during Friday. Wind gusts to 195 km/h may extend south to Denham later Friday.

DESTRUCTIVE WIND GUSTS in excess of 125 km/h may develop on the Pilbara coast near Karratha early Thursday, extending to Exmouth during Thursday, and south to Carnarvon and then to Denham and the Overlander Roadhouse during Friday.

GALES with DAMAGING WIND GUSTS to 100 km/h are possible between Sandfire and Port Hedland, extending west to Dampier tonight. GALES with DAMAGING WIND GUSTS to 120 km/h may develop west to Exmouth during Thursday and extend further south to Kalbarri and inland to the Murchison Roadhouse during Friday.

Coastal residents between Exmouth and Denham are specifically warned of a DANGEROUS STORM TIDE as the cyclone moves south down the Gascoyne coast. Tides are likely to rise significantly above the normal high tide, with DAMAGING WAVES and DANGEROUS FLOODING.

Tides will be higher than normal between Port Hedland and North West Cape. LARGE WAVES may produce MINOR FLOODING of low-lying coastal areas.

Recommended Action:
DFES advises:

Ensure you know what to do in a cyclone. For the latest DFES community alerts and warnings visit www.emergency.wa.gov.au or download the Emergency WA app.

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