It’s been talked about for a few days in meteorological circles and finally the cyclone off Australia has been named and also reached officially cyclone status.

Cyclone Sandra has formed in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast.

The category one system formed overnight and is situated a significant distance from the State at about 1,000 kilometres north-east of Mackay.

It is moving at a reasonable speed in a north-east direction at about 13 kilometres per hour.

Sandra is expected to intensify over the next 24 hours before turning southwards.

It should eventually start turning around to the east and the south-east and eventually south and at this point in time it’s heading to the southern ocean off the Queensland coastline or well off the coastline

It is predicted the system will remain well offshore until at least the middle of next week.

There’s a chance of it tracking unsually westwards after that period and forecastsers are keeping an eye on Sandra as she churns out at sea.
 

WeatherWatch