Thousands of Australians have been warned to brace for the impact of a tropical cyclone threatening to form in the country's far north.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, there is a good chance that a tropical low will develop into a category three hurricane near Queensland in the South Pacific next week.
Early Monday the low will move west into what is considered Australia's area of responsibility.
There is a good chance that the storm will develop into a tropical cyclone on Tuesday, which will then be located in the Solomon Sea.
A low-pressure system forming off the coast of Queensland is likely to develop into a cyclone
The system will set up on Wednesday and Thursday through Friday and has a 90 percent chance of forming a tropical cyclone about 100 km west of Papua New Guinea's Sudest Island.
If it forms into a cyclone in the Australian area, it is called Cyclone Jasper.
Bureau of Meteorology Senior Meteorologist Felim Hanniffy told the story Cairns Post the storm was unpredictable.
“The big uncertainty is how it interacts with a broader upper trough in southeastern Australia, which could see it being sucked toward the Queensland coast,” he said.
“Tomorrow there will be a moderate chance and on Tuesday there will be a high chance of a tropical cyclone developing as it moves far north into the eastern Coral Sea.”
'The low is expected to move southwards and remain well east of the Queensland coast, so no immediate impact is expected over the next seven days.
The hurricane developing in Australia's far north could produce monstrous surfing conditions
“Although it may increase swells and southeasterly winds along parts of the east coast later this week or into next week.”
The weather pattern increases the risk of severe thunderstorms in central parts of Queensland could bring large hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall.
A severe heatwave warning remains in force for the far north and northeastern tropics.
A high-pressure system over the southern part of Australia will raise temperatures in major capital cities, with most of the storms seen over the past week disappearing.
In the outback regions of Western and Southern Australia, temperatures can reach as high as 45 degrees Celsius.
Adelaide in particular is expecting sweltering heat in the coming weeks.
Other major state capitals are seeing a dry start to the first full week of summer, with temperatures in the 20s to 30s.
Wet weather is expected to hit southern Australia by the end of the week
While the severe storms that hit the East Coast this week have passed, more rain will fall towards the end of the next seven days.