Queensland’s first cyclone of the season could hit remote Indigenous communities on Christmas Day.

The highest threat of a potential low-category cyclone – set to be named either Stan or Tatiana – is on Friday and into the weekend, the Bureau of Meteorology (Bom) said.

The system in the Gulf of Carpentaria is expected to track south-east towards the western Cape York peninsula or the southern shore of the gulf.

It is unclear whether the slow-moving monsoon trough will build into a tropical cyclone, which are notoriously difficult to forecast.

“Whether it’s a cyclone or a monsoon, the region around the Cape York peninsula and gulf country is still going to get some pretty good rainfall over the next few days,” a BoM spokesman said.

The cyclone would be at the lowest category-one level, but could still damage homes.

Although the downpours in north-west Queensland will be welcome they are unlikely to break any droughts in the vast rural area of the state desperate for rain.

In preparation Queensland’s fire and emergency services is flying out 3,800kg of food supplies to the remote areas of Burketown and Doomadgee which are expected to be cut off.

Cyclone preparations are also under way in the remote councils of Kowanyama and Mornington Island.

“We’ve been preparing for the possibility of a cyclone for the past few days but certainly for heavy rainfall,” said Mount Isa’s emergency management coordinator, Elliott Dunn.

“These four communities are very isolated and used to dealing with long periods of isolation of up to a month so they know what to do.”



