During October, ahead of the tropical cyclone season, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a tropical cyclone outlook for the upcoming 2018-19 season, which would officially run from 1 November 2018 to 30 April 2019. Seasonal forecasts were issued for the basin as a whole, as well as the Eastern, Northern and Western regions and the North-Western sub-region.[1] The forecasts took into account various factors, including the latest neutral to weak El Niño conditions that had been observed in the tropical Pacific Ocean.[1] The outlooks showed that activity in the basin overall, as well as for each of its individual regions, would be near to below average.[1] For the Western region between 90°E and 125°E, the BOM forecast that the area would also see activity below its average of 7, with a 56% chance of a below average number of tropical cyclones occurring.[1] TCWC Perth also noted that there was a likelihood of two tropical cyclones and a significant likelihood of at least one severe tropical cyclone impacting Western Australia.[2] For the North-Western sub-region between 105°E and 130°E, it was predicted that activity would be above average, with a 41% chance of below-average tropical cyclone activity.[1] The Northern Territory, which was defined as being between as being 125°E and 142.5°E, had a 54% chance of an above-average season.[1] The Eastern region between 142.5°E and 160°E was predicted to have a below-normal tropical cyclone season, with a 60% chance of below-average tropical cyclone activity.[1]