Tropical Cyclone Wati has come to a halt strengthening over the Coral Sea and forecasters admit they cannot predict whether it will turn and follow the destructive path of Cyclone Larry. As emergency services and the military struggled through torrrential rain to deliver aid to stricken far north Queensland communities, forecasters today changed their tune about Wati's next move. The cyclone, which has been intensifying for the past 24 hours, had been predicted to turn south. Today forecasters said it would "remain off the coast for the next few days" but said that it was hard to predict any movements after that.
"We just have to play a wait-and-see game," Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre forecaster Tony Wedd said. "Wati is much more of an erratically-moving cyclone than Larry, which moved in a straight line and very steadily. "Larry was well-behaved as far as cyclones go - apart from its destruction." |