Graziers in Queensland’s north are pinning their hopes for rain on a tropical low that is expected to develop into a category one tropical cyclone this afternoon.

At 11 am today the a Tropical Low was estimated to be 265 kilometres northeast of Townsville and 325 kilometres north of Proserpine and moving west southwest at 16 kilometres per hour towards the coast.

The tropical low is expected to move in a general southwest direction and develop before crossing the Queensland coast between Lucinda and Proserpine on Friday morning.

If the low develops into a category one cyclone as expected, it will be called Tropical Cyclone Dylan.

This morning’s advice said the system is likely to deliver heavy rain to coastal and adjacent inland areas of the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, Herbert and Lower Burdekin and the Central Coast and Whitsundays districts during today. 

Brett Dutschke from Weatherzone said that coastal areas and ranges stretching from Ingham to Mackay and including Townsville should see the most torrential falls of 200-to-500 millimetres, but significant rain should also spread a fair way inland to areas in more severe drought.

“The area from Charters Towers to Mt Isa to Longreach to Collinsville should see their biggest rain in about a year with widespread 30-to-100mm from Friday to Sunday,” Mr Dutschke said in a statement about the tropical low on Wednesday afternoon.

“All of this rain is due to a tropical low travelling west from the Coral Sea to western Queensland over the next few days. The low will also bring strong and gusty winds, potentially strong enough to cause damage.

“However, the positives of this rain will outweigh the of negative effects of the wind.

“The rain will go some way to restoring soil moisture and grass growth and replenish dams.

“However, it will take several more events like this to make up for the several hundred millimetre deficit that these regions have endured for the past one-to-two years.”