Australia's sixth tropical cyclone of the 2022/23 season has officially been declared by the Bureau of Meteorology, as we predicted on Wednesday.

At 8 am (AWST), Tropical Cyclone Herman was a Category 2 storm located off the NW coast of Australia about 500 km SSW of Christmas Island. It's expected to track in a SE direction towards the Australian mainland, however it should lose strength long before it poses any danger to coastal communities.

The BoM's latest Tropical Cyclone Information Bulletin says that Herman is expected to reach its peak intensity during Thursday before weakening overnight and during Friday.

From Friday night and during the weekend, Herman is then expected to move towards the west, away from the Australian coast as it continues to steadily weaken, and is not expected to impact the Australian mainland or any island territories.

Is this late in the season for tropical cyclones?

Not really. While we tend to think of tropical cyclone as a summer phenomenon, it is far from unusual for them to form at this time of year.

The official Australian tropical Cyclone season runs a full six months from November 1 to April 30, however any TC that forms in the Australian region between 1 July and 30 June counts towards the season total.

The last two tropical cyclones in Australian waters were both noteworthy for different reasons.

• TC Freddy had incredible power and longevity as it crossed the Indian Ocean before hopping back-and-forth between Madgascar and the main body of the African continent
• Norfolk Island had a narrow escape from TC Gabrielle, although New Zealand was severely impacted as the system tracked further south.

Image: Past track of Tropical Cyclone Freddy. Source: Meow, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

TC Herman is unlikely to end up with a nickname like "The Hermanator", which will no doubt come as a relief to residents of Christmas Island and the northwest of WA.