Tropical Cyclone Kirrily is expected to form on Tuesday and cross the North Queensland coast on Thursday as a category three storm, somewhere between Innisfail and Airlie Beach.
The Bureau of Meteorology said by the end of the week the system was forecast to move inland and further south, contributing to expected widespread rain.
On Monday morning the tropical low labelled 05U (shown above, top left of map) was located in the Coral Sea about 860km east-north-east of Townsville and 420km east-north-east of Willis Island.
BOM has recorded sustained winds near the centre of the storm at 55km/hour, with wind gusts to 85km/hour.
The low is forecast to begin moving south west towards the east Queensland coast later on Monday.
BOM said there may be heavy rainfall resulting in flash flooding in coastal areas between Ayr and St Lawrence from late Wednesday before spreading to inland areas and possibly further north on Thursday and Friday.
"From Friday, the system is expected to become an inland rain depression and heavy rainfall may develop across central and southern inland, as well as southeast Queensland over the weekend as the system tracks south," BOM says.
Category three cyclones have maximum mean wind speed 118-159km/hour, with wind gusts of 165-224km/hour.
Meanwhile, the slow moving category 1 Tropical Cyclone Anggrek is about 570km west of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and steadily moving westwards out of Australian waters.
However, plenty of rain is expected in Western Australia.
A deep tropical low currently over the south eastern Kimberley that was previously in the Northern Territory is expected to reach the Pilbara on Tuesday, and remain near-stationary for the remainder of the week.
BOM said the mapping it provided was the bureau's best estimate of a cyclone's future movement and intensity.
"There is always some uncertainty associated with tropical cyclone forecasting and the grey zone indicates the range of likely tracks of the cyclone centre," BOM says.
- For emergency assistance call the Queensland State Emergency Service on 132 500, including assistance with storm damage, rising flood water, fallen trees on buildings or roof damage.
