Tropical cyclone advice 62

Well, right now, cyclone Ingrid is almost directly north of Darwin, about 115km away (70mi). Ingrid has been slowly weakening as it crosses the Tiwi islands, and is now a category 3 cyclone, with 215km/hr gusts, instead of the 320 km/hr gusts last night. It looks like it is going to pass far enough to the north that Darwin will miss most of the destructive winds. We are supposed to get gale force winds any minute now, but there is little damage predicted.

Of course, there is the possibility that the cyclone will make an abrupt turn. Cyclones in this area are notorious for doing that. Two years ago, cyclone Craig was bearing down on Darwin, then turned at the last minute, and wandered off through Kakadu. And, of course, cyclone Tracy managed to round the Tiwi islands, turn sharply left, and bashed right into Darwin. So some of the old timers are a bit nervous - Ingrid is following a path a bit too close to Tracy.

Right now, we have a steady rain, and some wind, but nothing particularly severe. More like a typical wet season night, actually. Certainly nothing worth evacuating at this point. I'm still not sure if I'll be leaving tomorrow, but if things continue as predicted, I think my flight might actually go.