Second late cyclone possible

THE second tropical cyclone of the month may form at the end of the week off the Solomon Islands, stumping forecasters who have never seen such an occurrence.

Cyclone Raquel, which formed at the start of July, was the first time since satellite monitoring began in the 1970s that forecasters have recorded such an event.

Weather bureau forecaster Jess Carey said it was unclear what influence the latest disturbance might have on trade winds or El Nino conditions.

The cyclone season is generally considered to run from November to April and there is speculation that the tropical low and El Nino were linked.

Mr Carey said the tropical low forming near the Solomons had about a 20 per cent chance of becoming a cyclone on the weekend.

“There’s very little chance of it coming into our area of responsibility,” he said.

“We’re talking maybe five or seven days out at this stage and it’s 2000km away, so anything can happen on that timescale. We’re watching it closely.

“It’s quite a unique scenario and we’ve not seen anything like this before.

“We’ve only ever had Raquel a few weeks ago and we’ve never had a tropical cyclone in August since satellite monitoring started. If we have two it will be interesting.”

Tropical cyclones usually form in the southern hemisphere only in the summer months.