A tropical cyclone alert is now in force for the Cook Islands.
The Cook Islands Meteorological Service (CIMS) said tropical depression TD01F is moving south towards the Southern Cook Islands.
It said the system is expected to strengthen and may develop into a category 1 tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours.
At 8am local time, TD01F was located approximately about 352 km north of the ow lying coral atoll, Suwarrow.
The system currently has sustained winds of around 46 km/h near its centre. It is moving southwards and is expected to turn south-southeastwards.
On its current forecast track, the system is expected to pass close to Suwarrow within the next 24-36 hours before moving towards the Southern Cook Islands.
Winds from the east to southeast at 37-46km/h, with gusts up to 65 km/h are for Suwarrow.
Damaging gale-force winds may develop from later tonight, with sustained winds around 65 km/h and gusts up to 93 km/h.
Frequent and heavy rain with squally thunderstorms becoming frequent and heavy.
Very rough to high seas and damaging heavy swells.
The official tropical cyclone season starts on November 1.
