"Oh Yeah, We're Gonna Throw A Category 5 Cyclone In The Mix Too" Says 2026

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

Another Australian Autumn, another concerning tropical low that looks set to ravage the Queensland coastline.

This time last year, Australians were chewing their fingernails and waiting in silence for Cyclone Alfred to make landfall. In the midst of a federal election campaign, the news cycle did not seem like it could get any noisier.

But 2026 has managed to surpass the anxiety of 2025, with another war in the Middle East, a fuel shortage and consecutive rate hikes for Australian borrowers.

And this year's Cyclone has 'tuckshop mum' name, which as we all know, means it's going to be much worse.

Like Tracey, Debbie and Yasi, the newly named Tropical Cyclone Narelle is expected to ramp up into a category five system before making landfall.

The system is forecast to cross the Far North Queensland coastline on Friday - with the potential of intensifying even further as it crosses the Gulf towards the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The possibility of Narelle tearing across the exposed Top End communities is still at this stage only a worst case scenario, but if the first 2 and half months of 2026 are anything to go by...