A tropical cyclone in Western Australia will likely make landfall there on Sunday night before the remnants reach NZ late next week in the form of a Southern Ocean low and western rainmaker.

The serious cyclone has already killed dozens of people in Indonesia and East Timor and while Category 1 on Thursday morning Aussie forecasters expect it to reach severe Cat 3 status within 48 hours.

The remnants will likely reach NZ next Friday, but before then another two low pressure systems will impact NZ – the first this weekend and the second at the start of next week.