Images captured by the Himawari-9 satellite over the past six months show the entire 2023-24 Australian tropical cyclone season in all its glory from start to finish.

The Himawari-9 satellite is a geostationary satellite that sits roughly 36,000 km above Earth’s surface, capturing images of the Australian region every 10 minutes, throughout the year.

The video below shows the images captured by the Himawari-9 satellite over the past six months, from the start of November to the end of April. The images have been stitched together by Weatherzone to create a timelapse of the Australian 2023-24 tropical cyclone season.

This video shows the entire 2023-24 Australian tropical cyclone season using enhanced infrared images from the Himawari-9 satellite. ????? pic.twitter.com/cTBpOR2OlL

— Weatherzone (@weatherzone) April 30, 2024

In total, there were eight named tropical cyclones inside Australia’s area of responsibility during the 2023-24 season. This is slightly lower than the long-term average of 9 to 11 tropical cyclones per season.

One thing that stood out as unusual about this season’s cyclones was that six out of the eight named tropical cyclones became severe (reaching category three or higher). This was the highest number of severe tropical cyclones during a single season since the 2014-15 season.

While the season officially finishes at the end of April, tropical cyclones can develop in the Australian region at any time of year, although they become much less likely from June to October.