Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului has overnight been downgraded to a strong Category 3 cyclone with central pressure 952 hPa.

The cyclone has only weakened slightly but was enough to change it’s category status.

Ului remains in a similar location located over the north-east Coral Sea – about 1160 km northeast of Mackay in Queensland.

The cyclone is still slow moving, travelling south at about 6 km/h.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului is expected to continue moving in a southerly direction, and remain well offshore during Thursday.

On Friday the cyclone is expected to turn west-southwest and begin moving closer to the Queensland coast. On current predictions the most likely scenario is for the cyclone to impact the Queensland coast during the weekend somewhere between Cardwell and St Lawrence. However, it is important to understand that some uncertainty remains in this outlook period.

The windy conditions over much of the Queensland east coastal waters will continue due to the tight pressure gradient generated by a combination of a high pressure system situated in the Tasman Sea and Severe Tropical Cyclone Ului. Seas and swell are expected to increase along much of the Queensland east coast and produce dangerous surf conditions on the exposed coasts.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz with Burea of Meteorology