THE Bureau of Meteorology is presently forecasting a cyclone to form off the Queensland coast on Saturday with some models suggesting the system will intensify and make landfall early next week. 

BoM forecaster Brett Harrison said the official forecast presently indicated there was a moderate chance of a cyclone forming in the Coral Sea on Saturday. 

"Generally the system will then be heading to the west - so pushing closer to the Queensland coast at least over the weekend," he said.  

"After that it's pretty uncertain what direction it may take."

And while the system is expected to stay north of Mackay Mr Harrison said such situations were always unpredictable and wouldn't rule out the system making a run towards the southeast. 

"You can't rule that sort of thing out but it does look as though it will remain around the northern tropics," he said. 

While the official forecast has only a moderate likelihood of the system becoming a Category 1 cyclone the BOM's unedited modelling presently indicates the tropical low will go cyclonic shortly before making landfall in the state's north - somewhere between Cairns and Townsville on Tuesday. 

If the current weather modelling plays out residents in the state's north can expect to see 50-100mm fall in just six hours on Tuesday morning. 

"We'll see winds increasing for coastal waters areas over the weekend and increase even further if we do see a tropical cyclone," Mr Harrison said.