East Coast Lows

East coast Lows, or ECL’s as they are called, are intense low-pressure cells that develop rapidly off the east coast of mainland Australia, particularly New South Wales. These systems can produce the rapid onset of strong winds, heavy rain and very rough seas and have been responsible in the past for shipwrecks, flooding rains in coastal areas and significant beach erosion.

 

Where do ECLs usually develop?

On occasion these lows can develop several hundred kilometres off the coast and then move westwards – a direction contrary to the usual movement of weather systems in non-tropical areas. This type of movement is called retrogression. At other times, the low pressure cells will develop “out of nothing”, close to the coast, in a period that may be much less than 24 hours. If this process, called cyclogenesis, occurs rapdly, it is called “explosve development”.