Preliminary information on Tropical Cyclone Marcia now available

24/02/2015

The Bureau of Meteorology has published preliminary information gathered on Tropical Cyclone Marcia on its website.

The tropical low that eventually became severe tropical cyclone Marcia was first identified and tracked on Sunday, February 15th. During the next several days it drifted eastward with little change in intensity.

On Wednesday, February 18th, the system turned southwest and began intensifying. It was officially designated as category 1 tropical cyclone Marcia on Wednesday evening and maintained its southwesterly track overnight into Thursday morning.

Between 8am and 6pm on Thursday, Marcia underwent a period of extremely rapid intensification, increasing by three categories to a category 4 cyclone in approximately 10 hours. On Thursday night it turned almost due south and intensified even further, reaching category 5 at 4am on Friday 20th February. Wind gusts at Middle Percy Island reached 208 km/h as the cyclone passed to the east.

Go to the Severe Weather Events summary page for more information.