Australia

A small tropical cyclone has formed in the Coral Sea according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center Tuesday morning. Australian forecasters will be responsible for naming it, which should/may happen today and if so it will be named Linda. Australian forecasters are still only calling it a "tropical low" as of 10am NZDT.

Heavy rain will spread through northwest Queensland during the next week, with some areas a chance to see records challenged and prolonged river flooding.

The leftovers of an ex-tropical cyclone are coming towards New Zealand - but not how you might think. The remnants of what was Cyclone Kelvin, which made landfall the other day in north western Australia, will drift out over southern Australia and the Great Austraian Bight over the next few days to merge with a Southern Ocean system and form a new low on Monday over southern New Zealand.

UPDATED 11:45pm Saturday --- Cyclone Gita still remains a Severe Category 3 tropical storm as it moves into the northern Tasman Sea, although it is likely to drop to a Category 2 cyclone overnight.

*Our Monday Video is delayed a bit as we get more data to talk about Cyclone Gita. The next video will be ready by mid Monday afternoon*

Cyclone Gita, a severe cyclone north west of New Zealand, has begun it’s slow southern turn towards the Tasman Sea and will most likely reach New Zealand on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Updated 3:21pm --- Tropical Cyclone Gita remains a severe category 3 storm today and the air pressure remains fairly stable although up a tiny bit at 959hPa. It remains in a good position with little interference landwise and atmosphere-wise to weaken it significantly.

Severe Cyclone Gita remains a Category 4 cyclone this morning 1700kms directly north of Auckland, New Zealand. The cyclone is tracking westwards at 13km/h and will start to track more WSW in the coming 24 hours, before turning more southerly this weekend in the Tasman Sea.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Gita is closing in on eastern New Caledonia then it will move out into the Tasman Sea this weekend before curving around to New Zealand next week.

The storm will likely bring rain heavy enough for flooding in the New Zealand area but the computer modelling still isn’t on the same page about timing, exact location and intensity.