First 'possible' tropical cyclone of the season
For the first time this season, the Bureau of Meteorology is monitoring a low pressure system that may develop into a tropical cyclone inside Australia's area of responsibility.
The Australian tropical cyclone season runs from November until April. During this time, we usually see around 12 tropical cyclones forming in our waters, although the first one doesn't usually develop until mid-to-late December.
However, there is a low pressure system over the Indian Ocean that could briefly become a tropical cyclone just inside Australia's area of responsibility later this week.
Image: The area of cloud inside the green circle has the potential to become Australia's frist tropical cyclone of the 2020/21 season.
If the low does reach tropical cyclone strength inside our region, it will become the first tropical cyclone of our 2020/21 season and be named Imogen.
But before panicking, there are a few important things to know about this system.
Firstly, it's located way out in the Indian Ocean. On Wednesday morning, the low was around 2,700 km to the northwest of the Australian mainland, out past the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
Secondly, it's not going to move towards Australia. Forecast models suggest the system will move south and then west away from our continent.
In its latest outlook, the Bureau of Meteorology gives the low pressure system between 5 and 20 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone on Thursday or Friday.
So while it's not guaranteed, keep an eye out for news of Tropical Cyclone Imogen later this week.