Australia Weather News

Even with the growing chance of a new cyclone forming in the Coral Sea from tomorrow, Queenslanders can expect mostly good weather heading into the long weekend.

The exceptions along the coast may be treated to "nuisance" showers, with only parts of the north expecting rainfall in the triple digits.

Bureau of Meteorology Felim Hanniffy said temperatures will stay average for early autumn, though there will be warmer patches in the state's south.

Coastal and northern rain

Along the coast, Mr Hanniffy said there will be wide-spread scattered showers, particularly along the north tropical coast and across the northern peninsula.

"For much of the east coast, it will be more [like] nuisance showers," he said.

"But certainly for the north tropical coast, we could see some localised falls, particularly around the Cassowary and Daintree coast of between 50 and 100mm, maybe even locally more."

He said those regions have already had so much rain, that more falls will be something to watch.

The Daintree River has been at minor flood levels through the week, peaking at 4.85m on Thursday, and gradually falling since.

The Low Isles, just off the coast from the Daintree, have recorded more than 1500mm so far this year, including 815mm in March alone.

Mr Hanniffy said for those preparing to enjoy a weekend on the water or in the sand, conditions may be less than ideal.

Coastal showers will spread to the south-east, with some areas to expect a strong south-easterly along the east coast.

"I'm afraid not ideal for boaties, windy at times about much of the east coast over the coming long weekend," he said.

Those winds, he said, will pick up further north into the north-east tropical coast, making quite rough seas into early next week.

Tropical low still far away

Tropical Low 37U has a "moderate" chance of intensifying into a cyclone from tomorrow (SAT), which increases to a "high" chance from Sunday morning and through next week.

Mr Hanniffy said the low, which remains near the Solomon Islands, is yet to make itself felt along the Queensland coast.

"It does look like by Sunday and into the early days next week, we are likely to have tropical cyclone development in the far north-east Coral Sea," he said.

He said the system was likely to be slow moving and remain around the Solomon Islands into the early part of next week.

"It's more to the second half of next week that we see that system potentially moving westward or south-westward," he said.

"Later next week it could start to approach the Queensland coast."

But he said there was still a "large degree of uncertainty" about how the system would form, and then where it would go over the next seven days.