Severe Tropical Cyclone Ita 5-13 April 2014

This satellite loop from the Japanese MTSAT satellite orbiting approximately 35 000 km above the Earth's surface, captures the formation and movement of severe tropical cyclone Ita, which made landfall as a category 4 cyclone around 10pm on Friday April 11 near Cape Flattery, Queensland.

The loop shows the system which began life as a tropical low southwest of the Solomon Islands in the northeastern Coral Sea on 2 April, 2014, before intensifying into a category 1 cyclone and being named on the afternoon of 5 April. Tropical cyclone Ita became a category 3 severe tropical cyclone on 8 April and then on the afternoon of 10 April rapidly intensified during a six hour period to become a category 5 system.

A day later, Ita then weakened almost as quickly, approaching the coast as a category 4 system and crossing land around 10:00pm on 11 April. By the next morning it had weakened into a category 1 cyclone, remaining at this level for a two day trek southwards along the north Queensland coast.

Ita finally turned southeastward and moved off the Queensland coast near Proserpine on April 13. It maintained category 1 intensity for another 24 hours before transitioning into an extra tropical low and accelerating southeastward further away from the coast.