Tropical Cyclone Ilsa is becoming a monster and the monster has just developed an eye.

Ilsa is now a Category 5 storm and is expected to remain at that intensity by the time it crosses the WA coastline late on Thursday night or early Friday morning. As it matured on Thursday afternoon, it developed the classic cyclone eye, which you can see clearly on the Thursday afternoon satellite image.

Category 5 is of course the strongest type of cyclone, and we haven't seen a Cat 5 make landfall in Australia since TC Marcia in 2015, which caused over $500 million worth of damage along Queensland's Capricornia Coast in and around the town of Yeppoon.

The BoM first advised that Ilsa would likely intensify to Category 5 strength in its cyclone advisory issued at 11 am AWT. It announced that it has become a Cat 5 at 3 pm AWT. That advisory also stated:

• Ilsa is packing sustained winds near the centre of 205 km/h with gusts up to 285 kilometres per hour
• It is located 180 kilometres N of Port Hedland and 230 kilometres WNW of Wallal Downs (a cattle station on the Kimberley coast) and is moving S at 19 km/h
• Extreme gusts up to 315 km/h are now forecast as the Category 5 storm tracks towards the east Pilbara coast

The BoM warns that "A severe impact will occur along the coast and adjacent inland parts to the east of Port Hedland and west of Wallal Downs, most likely between Pardoo Roadhouse and Wallal Downs, later tonight or early Friday morning."

What happens after Ilsa makes landfall?

Despite becoming so intense so quickly, Cyclone Ilsa will have a relatively short life span compared to other recent cyclones like Cyclone Freddy, which set records for both energy and longevity as it crossed the Indian Ocean, then criss-crossed the Mozambique Channel between the African mainland and Madagascar.

Ilsa is expected to maintain tropical cyclone intensity on Friday, before weakening quite rapidly as it moves east all the way into southern parts of the Northern Territory.

So that's a ray of potential good news. But for now, Ilsa is an extremely dangerous system, and while it appears likely that large towns like Broome and Port Hedland will be spared its full force, roadhouses, cattle stations and several tiny settlements are in its path.

The whole region is on high alert for destructive winds, heavy rainfall, and abnormally high tides, and you can find all the alerts plus more info about Cyclone Ilsa on our warnings page.