Australia’s east coast is closely watching Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which has been churning and strengthening over the Coral Sea. Although the storm is expected to stay offshore for now, it’s still set to bring gusty winds, rising swells and hazardous surf conditions to Queensland’s heavily populated coastline in the coming days.

UKMO forecast wind gusts on Thursday 6th ahead of landfall showing gusts exceeding 120km/h over the Gold Coast and Brisbanee

Brisbane is in the firing line of a cyclone for the first time in a generation, as the category 3 Alfred system, packing dangerous destructive winds and torrential rain, advances on southern Queensland’s population centres.

Satellite imagery can help determine the strength, size and cohesion of a storm. The stronger a storm becomes, the more likely an eye will form in the center. When the eye looks symmetrical, that often means the storm is not encountering anything to weaken it.

Tropical cyclone Alfred is moving away from the Queensland coast, but meterologists predict it will turn back towards Brisbane from Tuesday. It comes amid severe weather warnings for the state’s south, as well as K’gari, and northeast NSW, as high tides, damaging surf, and gale force winds are forecast.

Tropical cyclone Alfred is tipped to make landfall as a category two system and coastal communities have been put on alert amid concerns about strong flooding.

Wild surf and severe winds are battering the Queensland coast as Tropical Cyclone Alfred remains a slow-moving threat offshore.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred has downgraded back to a category three storm. The weather system briefly intensified to a category four overnight, as it stalks the Queensland coast. It's expected to weaken throughout the weekend.