A low-pressure system developing near Vanuatu is expected to "rapidly intensify" into a tropical cyclone mid-week as it moves towards the Queensland coast, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has warned.
The bureau said the likelihood of the system becoming a tropical cyclone is low on Tuesday, moderate on Wednesday and high on Thursday when it is expected to track south east, away from the coast.
The storm is not expected to make landfall.
"It looks as though it's going to slow up as it moves towards the coast and it’s actually more likely to stay offshore than move ashore through the week," senior forecaster Steve Hadley said.
Coastal areas can expect strong winds from Wednesday and possibly into the weekend with warnings for small ships.
The bureau has also forecast gale-force winds and high seas along the Queensland coast.
Mr Hadley said Brisbane was not expected to be affected.
"We’ll just be staying in the south-easterlies that are around the western periphery of the tropical cyclone," he said.
South-east temperatures drop
Meteorologist Livio Regano said it was hard to know more about the situation until "we see the whites of the eyes" of the storm mid-week, but he expects the weather around the state to be relatively normal for February.
Temperatures in the south east are expected to continue to drop after last week's "absolutely exceptional" period of dew points above 26 degrees Celsius paired with a low level heatwave.
"At the moment we are still getting thirties, which is about average, even slightly above," Mr Regano said.
"Even when you have slightly above average temperatures, when you have a near record breaking period of heat it still feels cool."
"It will progressively be getting cooler as the cyclone heads further south [towards New Zealand]."
Further north, Mr Regano said rain in the Townsville region and central north coast would "settle down" today after Magnetic Island saw 178 millimetres fall in the 24 hours to 9am.
