meteorologist samantha mohr on the weather continues now. >> this is the time of year we see plenty of cyclone activity across the indian ocean. a couple of close calls may have cluttered the search a bit. here's the current search area. as we take it further off here off of queensland, you see we have a very powerful cyclone making landfall right now. in fact, we'll be talking about it throughout the night and into tomorrow because this could be one of the most powerful cyclones to ever hit this area. but about two weeks ago, there was another cyclone here. and it made tracks right across the north territory. stretching to the indian ocean. that was jillian. and jillian came right into this new search area right into the northern portion of it. likely could have had an impact on any debris that may have been floating here as it would have moved on in and just like a blender blended any type of debris that could have been on top of the water. we had another tropical storm, ivan hoe, that came close to the search dwlar whipped waves up quite a bit, as well. the wave heights were up a

samantha mohr here from the international weather center with a closer look at the area. what are ca-- what are conditio looking lake now? >> reporter: looking good thank goodness. we may see a shower and a few tropical scares the last ten days or so. things looking fairly tranquil. they said in perth, great conditions for those coming and going in and out of perth. it's very warm, winds offshore at 189 kilometers per -- 19 kilometers per hour and great visibility with tremendous sunshine. the search area is shrinking as we have folks on the water and in the air searching for the black box and any possible debris. of course, the search area has shrunk quite a bit. and now that main search area is just over 2,200 kilometers away from perth. also the current sonobuoys search area is 1,700 kilometers away from the coastline, as well. that is how it works, deplaying the buoy and reaching down to some 1,000 feet where it passively listens for transmitting the pinging up to an airline or boat on the surface. the weather certainly cooperating. high pressure, a dome in place. of course, air

. let's check in with samantha mohr. at first it didn't look, is a mab that, like things were going to turn out. everyone wants a sunny easter sunday. but they got one. >> it's gorgeous now. but yes, about 24 hours ago we actually had a tornado sighted northwest of rome. about 74 kilometers northwest of rome. and you can see that band of rain here on the satellite picture as it moved through here. actually caused some damage. we had some homes damaged, crops damaged, some trees uprooted from this f-1 tornado that was verified by the european severe weather data base. on the ground for 15 minutes. and also it was a waterspout for a while before it made its way inland moving from the southwest to the northeast. as you can see, it has now moved out of there. we are seeing blue skies all across much of italy and on up into germany as we celebrate easter sunday. a lot of beautiful tulips in bloom there as well. still the risk of unsettled weather as we head in through the next couple of days here. but as far as rome is concerned, looking very nice for the rest of today. may see a few clouds

pumping air into the ship -- ferry. samantha mohr has been looking into the weather conditions, and they aren't very good. >> they're not ideal, natalie. we are in a bit of a lull at least in between weather systems although we're partly to mostly cloudy across southern south korea. the temperatures, still on the cool side and quite windy once you get over the water. that's going to add a little chop there to the sea's surface. you see the winds at 28 at the island. that's going to make things more difficult as far as rescue efforts are concerned. we have our weak low that's going to be pushing off over southern japan, bringing in showers from time to time here. we may see a few spotty showers move in. nothing organized. and then once we get into the latter half of the weekend, another system is moving in. this is how it should play out as far as the timing goes. things staying partly to mostly cloudy until early on saturday. then we'll end up seeing clouds thickening up and showers moving in during the afternoon on our saturday. then they're going to continue overnight. saturday night i

weather forecast, which takes us to australia, in fact. meteorologist samantha mohr is following cyclone ita there down under. they had to add a new color to their map it got so hot this past year, in fact. >> just incredible. now one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever to approach the coast of queensland did so over the weekend. and, you know, the average number of cyclones that affect this part of australia every year, that's been five. only 207 since 1858. this was a very strong storm as it came onshore. at one point it was a category 5. downgraded to a category 3 right before landfall. so it was a strong 3, almost a 4. now you can see how much it has weakened as it continues to parallel the coast. of course, the friction from the land tends to disorganize it a bit and weakens it. as it continues to parallel the coastline here right along the barrier reef area where so many tourists love to come and flock to, we're continuing to see some very heavy rain and strong winds and coastal flooding. take a look at some of these pictures coming out of coastal queenland as ita moves

, samantha mohr, from the weather center. how damaging could it be? >> it is tremendously damaging and it is huge. as you see, the diameter of the system, tropical storm-force winds cover some 185,000 square kilometers. and this storm has been around for a while, since last weekend, we were talking about it. over the solomon islands. it continued its movement off it the west, strengthening as it went. so this would be equal to a super typhoon if it were in the western pacific. look how well defined that eye wall is, as well. that center of circulation as it approaches cooktown here. now the winds gusting up to 305 kilometers per hour. those are gusts. sustained 250. it does make it equal to a category 5 on the saffir-simpson scale. say clones, hurricanes, they -- cyclones, hurricanes, they like to follow the path of least resistance. that's what the trough of low pressure is. it will funnel it down the eastern coast of australia, and we'll have concerns about storm surge as we head into the next 48 hours, into the weekend. this area's particularly prone to that. and you can see it