File:Tropical Cyclone Ilsa (MODIS).jpg

English: Around midnight local time on April 13, 2023, Tropical Cyclone Ilsa made landfall in Western Australia. Bearing winds that gusted to 298 kilometers (185 miles) per hour, it was one of the most potent storms to hit the area in recent years.

Earlier that day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the fierce cyclone approaching the Western Australia coast. Near the time this image was captured, Ilsa was approaching the coast with sustained winds of 240 kilometers (150 miles) per hour. That equates to a Category 5 storm on Australia’s intensity scale, which is equivalent to a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Although the storm’s center had not yet reached the coast, its outer cloud bands were already interacting with land.

According to Western Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, winds were especially fierce at Bedout Island (obscured in this image by clouds). Ground-based instruments measured sustained wind speeds of 218 kilometers (135 miles) per hour there—topping the previous record measured of 194 kilometers per hour measured at the island during Cyclone George in 2007.

The storm crossed the coast about 120 kilometers east-northeast of Port Hedland, maintaining Category 5 status on the Australian scale. By late on April 14, Ilsa’s windspeeds had decreased to near 80.5 km/h (50 mph), bringing it to Category 1 on the Australian scale. The storm brought damaging winds and torrential rain across a large swath of Western Australia. Fortunately, major cities, such as Port Hedland, were spared a direct hit and damage appears to be relatively mild.

The strongest winds appeared to have crossed over more remote territory. Photos of severe damage to buildings and a tractor-trailer overturned have circulated on social media, as well as photos of near-total destruction of the Pardoo Roadhouse, a remote restaurant and gas station near Port Hedland. The cyclone passed directly over Pardoo Station, a cattle ranching operation, leaving only two buildings intact at the main location.