Cyclone season for remote sites

Australia’s tropical cyclone season runs from 1 November to 30 April. For a remote mine or construction site, a cyclone means more than wind: roads and airstrips close, flights stop, pits flood and crews can be cut off for days. This guide covers the warnings and a practical timeline for getting ready.

The season and where cyclones hit

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, around 11 tropical cyclones form in the Australian region in an average season, and around 4 of them cross the coast. The coast between Broome and Exmouth, which takes in the Pilbara, is the most cyclone-prone stretch of Australia’s coastline. The Queensland coast and the Top End are also hit regularly.

The danger doesn’t stop at the coast. As a cyclone weakens over land it often becomes a rain-bearing low that can bring days of heavy rain and flooding hundreds of kilometres inland, to pits, camps and roads that never felt the wind.

Cyclone categories

The Bureau rates cyclones from 1 to 5 by their strongest wind gusts.

The category describes the wind only. Storm surge on the coast and flooding inland can be deadly at any category.

The Bureau’s warnings

• Tropical cyclone outlook: the chance of a cyclone forming over the next few days. The time to check plans and supplies.
• Watch zone: gales or stronger are possible within 48 hours.
• Warning zone: gales or stronger are expected within 24 hours.

The Bureau’s cyclone advices show these zones on a track map with the forecast path and its uncertainty. State emergency services issue the community alerts that tell people when to shelter and when it is safe to go outside, through Emergency WA in Western Australia and SecureNT in the Northern Territory, and through Queensland’s state and local disaster management groups. Your site plan should say which of these your site follows.

A timeline for remote sites

Before 1 November

• Review the cyclone management plan, including who decides what at each stage.
• Inspect tie-downs, anchor points and cyclone-rated buildings, and confirm where everyone will shelter.
• Stock water, food, fuel, medical supplies and backup communications for several days without resupply.
• Clear drains and culverts, and tidy laydown yards so loose material can be secured quickly.
• Plan how people who don’t need to stay will leave while roads and flights are still running.

When a cyclone may form nearby

• Check the plan and supplies, brief crews, and decide which work to finish and which to pause.

In a watch zone (within 48 hours)

• Secure or remove loose materials, scaffold sheeting and signs.
• Make cranes safe the way the manufacturer specifies.
• Move plant and vehicles to high ground, fuel up, and back up data.
• Send people who don’t need to stay out while flights and roads are open.

In a warning zone (within 24 hours)

• Finish securing the site, shut down operations under the plan, and move to shelter when your plan or the emergency service says to.

After it passes

• Stay in shelter until the official all clear. If the eye passes over, the calm can be followed by destructive winds from the other direction.
• Check for structural damage, fallen power lines, flooding and washed-out roads before work restarts.
• Expect access to stay cut while rivers and creeks are up.

The weather either side of a cyclone

The wet season around a cyclone brings its own stoppages: monsoon rain that closes haul roads and fills pits, and thunderstorms that stand crews down for lightning. Lumen Sites shows rain, gusts and storm risk for the next 48 hours at each site, plus live lightning distance, which helps with the days before and after a cyclone. It does not track cyclones: follow the Bureau and your emergency service for those.

To see how wet and hot each month is where you work, every northern town page shows 30 years of monthly averages, for example Port Hedland, Karratha and Darwin.

Related: Rain, the wet season and haul roads · Pilbara weather for site work · Wind speed at height calculator