Cyclone Marcus and Perth

One advantage of being unnecessarily ancient is that one (yes, third person reference) can remember odd events and facts.

For instance, back 4th April 1974 a very big (as in wide) cyclone named Alby strode purposefully southwards in the Indian Ocean. Its centre was some 400Km off the coast as it passed Perth’s latitude yet I remember that day for its extreme winds (maximum gust of 130Kmh in Perth City and 143Kmh in Fremantle) as I was out on the road doing delivery work. Five people in the State’s south-west did not survive the day.

Cyclone Alby has been recorded by the Weather Bureau as one of the notable cyclones on its website.

http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/wa/alby.shtml

I have been watching Cyclone Marcus for the past couple of days, (ht to eldest son and family in Darwin) and found the Meteye map on the BOM site to be eerily reminiscent of Alby.

Be aware that we could be in for a late season cyclone affecting the South West. Do the necessary preparations and clean-ups just in case!

And hope that it doesn’t happen!

 

Addendum – overlay of Marcus-estimated on the Alby-actual track