Update from Regional Harbour Master
The Whitsunday Pilotage Area is no longer under Bureau of Meteorology cyclone warning or watch. With improved weather conditions, the Regional Harbour Master will re-open the Pilotage Area at 0800 hours local time today 5 April 2018.
**The pilotage area is only open for ferries and powered vessels of 20m in length or more. All other vessels must remain secured until further review by RHM at 1200 hours today**
Masters are advised to navigate with extreme caution and keep a proper lookout for debris and marine hazards within the area. Navigational aids may be out of position or damaged”
Cyclone Warning Cancelled for Whitsundays
Tropical cyclone Iris is expected to weaken over the central Coral Sea today.
Areas affected:
Warning zone: None.
Watch zone: None.
Cancelled zones: None.
Details of Tropical Cyclone Iris at 4:00 am AEST:
Intensity: category 1, sustained winds near the centre of 75 kilometres per hour with wind gusts to 100 kilometres per hour.
Location: within 85 kilometres of 19.5 degrees South, 151.6 degrees East , 295 kilometres east northeast of Hamilton Island and 310 kilometres northeast of Mackay .
Movement: east southeast at 6 kilometres per hour .
Tropical cyclone Iris remains a category 1 system, but is gradually weakening. Iris continues to move in an east-southeast direction away from the Queensland east coast.
Iris is expected to continue on its current track today, while gradually weakening. Iris is forecast to weaken below tropical cyclone intensity over the central Coral Sea during today, before adopting a track back towards the northwest as a tropical low.
Hazards:
Gales are expected to continue about the central and southern Great Barrier Reef today, though the risk of damaging winds and heavy rainfall has diminished about the Queensland east coast.