Cyclone Sandra is expected to intensify into a Category 3 storm over the weekend. Source: The Courier-Mail
SANDRA'S getting nastier by the day but whether she's heading for us is still, literally, up in the air.
Cyclone Sandra is expected to be upgraded from a Category 1 to a severe Category 3 today as it curves south, roughly parallel with the Queensland coast.
The big storm with winds to 110km/h is affecting an area about 1000km in diameter and is about 1100km northeast of Mackay.
The Weather Bureau has warned shipping that seas at its centre are 12m to 14m.
Weather Bureau forecaster Geoff Doueall said seas were of such a size that on the old Beaufort Scale they were rated as phenomenal, a description that referred to hurricane-force conditions.
"But there will be nothing like that further away from the eye and conditions along the coast have actually eased," he said.
Fisheries Queensland shark control program manager Jeff Krause said shark nets and drum lines would be removed from 20 beaches due to the rough conditions.
The good news is that the further south the cyclone goes, the more chance it has of running out of steam as it moves over cooler waters.
Anywhere north of Mackay is generally warm enough for cyclones to form and conditions south of about Bundaberg start to weaken them.
The Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Centre believes Sandra will assume a more southerly trajectory with winds to increase to 175km/h although one model has the storm crossing the coast between Mackay and Rockhampton and a second at the Sunshine Coast.
Moving at 10km/h, it is expected to remain well out to sea at least until next week.
Weatherzone forecaster Ben Domensino said the storm had only a slim chance of turning towards Queensland.
There was also a low risk that a second low would form next week along the monsoon trough about Cape York.
The monsoon could bring heavy falls across Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria but Cyclone Sandra was drawing much of the moisture off the east coast.
Cyclone Sandra is about 660km from Willis Island, one of the bureau's most remote weather stations.
The island is 450km northeast of Cairns and has a crew of four that serve for six months at a time.
Willis Island meteorologist Zachary Hussain said rough conditions hit the island on Thursday but eased yesterday.
"We've been busy with cyclone preparations and launching additional weather balloons," he said.
"It's not too bad."
Cyclone Yasi tore into the island in 2011, hitting it so hard it reshaped the tiny 400m by 200m land mass.
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