How Many More ‘Unprecedented’ Disasters Before We Admit This Is The New ‘Normal’?

Cyclone Alfred will be soon forgotten, but the climate warnings shouldn’t

At What Point Does “Unprecedented” Just Become “Normal”? (created by author)

Every morning during the first week of March 2025, I checked on Tropical Cyclone Alfred, a beast swirling in the Coral Sea, Australia, that appeared on radar in late February.

Why was an Argentinian so fixated on a cyclone brewing on the other side of the world? It wasn’t out of curiosity — I was watching a storm rewrite the rules. And I had a bad feeling about it.

First, it moved the wrong way. Most storms in the Coral Sea track east, then drift harmlessly into the Pacific. Alfred did the opposite — it turned back west toward Australia, barreling toward the Brisbane area, home to many of my Argentinian friends.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred moved down the eastern coast of Australia, before turning west towards south-east Queensland. (Source: ABC News)

My friends, along with millions of Australians, braced for the impact of the anomalous wrath 650km (404 miles) south of the Tropic of Capricorn — the last cyclone to get that close to Brisbane was Tropical Cyclone Wanda, which hit just north of the Sunshine Coast in 1974. Their messages painted a picture of anxious preparation — tying…