Australia is bracing to be hit by a second powerful cyclone in two days, as Cyclone Veronica bears down on the country's northwest coast.

The storm is expected to make landfall on Sunday afternoon, a day after Cyclone Trevor hit a remote part of the Northern Territory coast.

Weather authorities are forecasting Veronica will make landfall about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the west, on the Pilbara coast of Western Australia state.

While that area is also lightly populated, residents have been warned that because the cyclone is moving slowly they will likely have to shelter for several hours.

A category 3 system on a scale in which 5 is the strongest, Veronica has winds of up to 220 kilometers per hour (136 miles per hour).