A forecast cyclone is predicted to cross the Queensland coast next week.(Supplied: BOM)
A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to develop into a cyclone by Monday, with a "significant risk" the system may impact the Queensland coast from Tuesday onwards, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The low is forecast to be initially slow moving, before heading on a general southerly track from Sunday to Tuesday.
Senior forecaster Felim Hanniffy said there was uncertainty around where the system would move, with the possibility it could eventually track "anywhere from Mt Isa to New Caledonia".
Most models favour it initially tracking west or south-westerly, but they diverge on where it goes after that, he said.
"This really conveys the significant uncertainty of where this system is going to move as we go through the middle and latter part of next week," he said.
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As we go into the weekend there's a reprieve from the rain ... just as the tropical low is predicted to track towards the Queensland coast.
"There's a lower risk of heavier showers for part of the north tropical coast as we go into the latter parts of the weekend and into the start of the week," Mr Hanniffy says.
"But by that stage the main watch point will be what develops further east in the Coral Sea."
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We can expect more rain in areas affected by ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper, Mr Hanniffy says.
He says it won't take much to make the rivers rise.
"Given the level of saturation across that area it doesn't take much rainfall to trigger some river responses.
"Some localised heavy falls from 50 to 100mm are certainly possible.
"There is a risk of some renewed localised river rises."
Modelling is suggesting a severe tropical cyclone will develop in the Coral Sea, so there's certainty there, Mr Hanniffy says.
But whether we'll see a direct impact on Queensland's coast is unclear.
"Certainly if a system develops in the Coral Sea you're likely to have indirect impacts, that's from wind and swell along the east coast that would eventuate from a system even if it was to remain well off the Queensland coast."
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The direction it will take will become clearer when the cyclone actually forms, he added.
"Once the actual low forms, the intensity of the tropical cyclone will dictate how it's going to move."
It would be the second tropical cyclone since Jasper last December, with communities on the east coast of Queensland advised to stay up to date with forecasts and warnings.
Some rainfall totals already double the January average
Severe storms are forecast for southern Queensland today, and the possibility of thunderstorms and heavy rains in the state's west and far north. Intense local rainfall is also possible in the Darling Downs.
Many regions are still sodden from weeks of record rains, heightening the possibility of flash flooding in the south-east and far north of the state.
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Less than three weeks into the new year, rainfall totals for parts of the south-east are already double the January average, according to BOM.
Total rainfall forecast for the next four days.(ABC News)
So far this year, 738mm was recorded near the northern New South Wales border south of Beechmont, and 566mm at Wongawallan in the Gold Coast hinterland.
Caloundra, just north of Brisbane recorded 526, and Innisfail south of Cairns has recorded more than 500mm.