Tropical Cyclone Iggy Threatens Australia

By Eric Leister, Meteorologist

Jan 30, 2012; 6:20 AM ET

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This satellite from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center captured Tropical Cyclone Iggy Sunday night, local time.

The threat remains for Tropical Cyclone Iggy to bring Western Australia's northwestern strong winds and unleash flooding rainfall through the first part of this week.

The storm is expected to meander within a couple hundred miles of the coast through at least Tuesday. The possibility remains for a landfall; however, it appears more likely that the storm center will stay offshore through at least Tuesday night.

Sunday evening (local time, Sunday morning EST), Iggy was churning more than 200 miles off the coast of Western Australia's northwestern tip with its strength equal to that of a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic or Eastern Pacific basins.

See Also: Naming Hurricanes Video

Iggy is then expected to move off to the south and west, taking it away form the Australian coastline on Monday and Tuesday.

Bands of drenching rain associated with Iggy will still stream into Australia's northwestern coast. Many communities near the coast may have to deal with flash flooding from this rainfall.

Through the first part of this week, seas along the northwestern coast will also turn increasingly rough and dangerous for swimmers.

Iggy has already prompted companies to halt production at oil fields off the coast of northwestern Australia, according to The Australian Newspaper.

Some computer guidance is suggesting that Iggy will begin to interact with a cold front during the first part of the week, which could pull Iggy to the southeast, back toward the Australian coastline.

If this scenario plays out, the storm would likely move southeast and make landfall somewhere between Perth and Carnavon at midweek. This could lead to damaging winds and flooding rainfall across the region.

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