<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>338896</docID> <postdate>2025-02-24 09:58:24</postdate> <headline>Two tropical cyclones form, intensifying off coast</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-338774" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/FNQ-flooding-e1740093787717.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /></p> <caption>A tropical cyclone is forming off the coast of Queensland, and another off Western Australia. Photo: Jamie Hervey</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Savannah Meacham</strong> in Brisbane</span></p> <p><strong>Two tropical cyclones have formed off two states battered by heavy rain and flooding but one of the weather systems could potentially bring more wet conditions in coming days.</strong></p> <p>Tropical cyclone Alfred near Queensland and tropical cyclone Bianca near Western Australia formed on Sunday night but remain well away from their respective state coastlines.</p> <p>Alfred is slowly intensifying about 900km east of Cairns in northern Queensland, sitting as a category one in the Coral Sea.</p> <p>Favourable warm ocean conditions may increase it to a category two on Monday morning before it intensifies again to a category three on Tuesday.</p> <p>Over the next few days, Alfred will move slowly southeast while staying several hundred kilometres off the Queensland coast.</p> <p>During this time, it may influence the weather on the east coast with stiff southeasterly winds and a few passing showers.</p> <p>"Strong winds will make for choppy conditions as well as sizeable swell over the Queensland coastal waters throughout the week," meteorologist Angus Hines said.</p> <p>There are still a few possibilities as to where Alfred could move at the end of the week with one potential for it to veer back towards the central or southern Queensland coast.</p> <p>This would greatly increase the risk of severe weather for parts of the east coast.</p> <p>However, Mr Hines said it was too early to say what parts of the coast would be impacted or how strong the wind and rain would be.</p> <p>"The key message through the first half of this week for people in Queensland is to keep a watch of the forecast track maps for tropical cyclone Alfred in the coming days," he said.</p> <p>Queensland's north tropical coast is only just recovering from the impacts of a tropical low that brought weeks of heavy rain and severe flooding, with two lives lost and hundreds of homes evacuated.</p> <p>WA is also just recovering from Tropical Cyclone Zelia that swept over the Pilbara coast as a category five, bringing damaging winds and extensive flooding.</p> <p>Tropical cyclone Bianca was declared a category one in the Indian Ocean on Sunday night as it sits about 1000km west of Western Australia.</p> <p>The good news is the system is moving further southwest parallel to the WA coast but will not impact the state's weather.</p> <p>It is forecast to strengthen to a category two system but that will be its peak before weakening below a cyclone on Wednesday.</p> <p>"There is high confidence that tropical cyclone Bianca will weaken a long way away from the country without really impacting the weather for Western Australia or for the offshore islands in the Indian Ocean," Mr Hines said.</p> </body>