Cyclone Liua formed near the Solomon Islands on September 27 and was downgraded just before entering Australian waters.

This was remarkable because the South Pacific's cyclone season, like ours, is nominally from November to April — that is a whole month-and-a-half early!

So is Liua and its early arrival a sign of things to come?

The outlook doesn't suggest so. A likely El Nino this year means the weather bureau is saying the chance of more tropical cyclones than normal is small.

"Indications are for a lower-than-average number of tropical cyclones, and we are less likely to have widespread flooding," said Bruce Gunn, the state manager of BOM Queensland.

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But that doesn't mean we can be complacent.

"We are heading into what should be a warmer and dryer season ahead, which means a longer bushfire season, that's already upon us, an increased chance of heatwaves, continuing drought, unfortunately, and also an increased chance of coral bleaching," Mr Gunn said.

Australia has never had a season without at least one cyclone crossing the coast.

Mr Gunn reminded us that any cyclone that formed in the Coral Sea had a one-in-four chance of crossing the coast.

"It only takes one tropical cyclone to make a season, just like we saw with Tropical Cyclone Debbie."

What is a normal year?

According to the Bureau of Meteorology's website, the long-term average number of cyclones per season in the Australian region since 1969-70 is 11, with an average of four making landfall. But since 2000 there has only been an average of nine cyclones each season.

It is projected that in the future there will be fewer but more high-severity cyclones around the world due to human-induced climate change.

The cyclone season outlook is dependent upon the Southern Oscillation Index and Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures, both of which are also measures of the El Nino Southern Oscillation.

This is because cyclone occurrences and El Nino are linked.

Typically in El Nino years, like this one is tipped to be, there are less cyclones than average because of cooler-than-average western Pacific Ocean temperature and descending stable air over Australia.

La Nina years tend to bring more cyclones.

Cyclones are usually clustered on the northern coastlines of Queensland, the NT and WA. ( Supplied: BOM )

Who is in the firing zone?

Cyclones typically impact the coastal regions of northern Australia, but as Cyclone Debbie demonstrated in 2017, when flooding impacted from northern Queensland into New South Wales, their effects can be felt much further south.

It is expected that cyclones will travel further away from the equator as the climate warms.

Region Long-term* average number of cyclones Chance of more cyclones this season Australian 11 37% Western 7 44% Northwestern sub-region 5 41% Eastern 4 40% Northern 3 46% *Long-term average number of tropical cyclones, using data from the 1969-70 season to this (2018) season. Eastern is the Qld east coast, Northern covers the western Gulf coast and the NT, Western the WA coast and the Northwestern sub-region the sub section of WA, north of Carnarvon.

What should I do to prepare my home?

Dr David Henderson, the chief engineer at James Cook University's cyclone testing station, said this time of year, before the start of cyclone season, was a great time to see if there's any maintenance to do around the home.

"Our houses are actually big machines, we just hope they don't go anywhere. So, all the components in there have to do their job."

As people in cyclone regions shelter in their homes, Dr Henderson said it was great to get someone to help do an inspection every few years to make sure all those parts weren't rotted, rusted or corroded and that they're all doing their job.

"Our roofing needs to be attached to our battens, our battens to our rafters, and roof frame to our walls all the way down to ground level — like wrist bone down to elbow bone all the way down, to keep those forces to tie our houses down to the ground."

It was also important to ensure all upgrades to buildings were done effectively, especially when re-roofing pre-1980s houses, Dr Henderson said.

"It is important that there are no weak links to prevent the roof from coming apart."

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But even the best preparation can only go so far.

"For a lot of us in the cyclone regions, during the cyclone season there is a lot of rain entering into our house or buildings or workplaces," Dr Henderson said.

It could be damage that is allowing the water in or it could be just coming in anyway.

Dr Henderson said water could come through our normal doors and windows because the wind pressure pushing on the wall created a negative pressure inside the building.

"It's drawing that water and rain into our living spaces where we're sheltering. Our design standards, although these windows for modern houses meet the standards, they're not really there for our cyclone regions.

"We've got to do more to try to keep that water out."

Taping up your windows doesn't make them stronger — it just helps with the clean-up if they break. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn )

Dr Henderson said when warnings went out as a cyclone approached, once people had cleaned up their yards and secured any loose items, they might want to put a cross or checkerboard pattern of masking tape on the inside of windows.

"If the window gets broken, it may help us in cleaning up the broken glass," he said.

"It doesn't make the window stronger. We still can't shelter behind it.

"We've got to follow the emergency services guidelines by sheltering in the smallest, strongest part of our house with mattresses around us, not standing behind bits of windows that could get broken at anytime."

So the masking tape may not be much help in preventing damage, but Dr Henderson has a trick to help keep the water out of your home.

"If we've got like, say, a garbage bag, we split it in half, we tape it along the bottom of the sill, tape it up the side, only about a foot or 300 millimetres up.

"That's like increasing the height of the sill of that window, or sliding door, and that's really stopping a lot of this wind-driven rain coming through the sliding windows."

His testing has found it to be very effective in stopping the water from coming in and prevented a lot of damage happening to the inside of the house.

No matter the outlook, there is still a chance of devastating cyclones this season so it pays to be prepared.