The tropical low near Vanuatu has officially been named as Cyclone Judy and could intensify in the coming days, Fiji's MetService says.
Judy is currently sitting near Solomon Islands as a category 1 cyclone.
"TC Judy is moving southwest at about 35 kilometres per hour and is currently located about 35 kilometres to the southeast of Fatutaka in the Solomon Islands or about 725km west-northwest off Rotuma," Fiji's MetService said on Facebook.
"TC Judy is fast-moving and is expected to track over the small islands in the southern part of Solomon Islands as a category 1 system today and approach the northern parts of Vanuatu around midday tomorrow."
The cyclone is expected to track very close or over Vanuatu as a category 2 system around midday on Tuesday and could even intensify into a category 3 system as it passes over Villa on Wednesday.
"Damaging to very destructive winds and heavy rain is expected to affect Vanuatu in the next few days as the system moves close by or over the islands," Fiji's MetService added.
The cyclone is expected to be in Aotearoa's area of responsibility by Thursday.
New Zealand forecasters have said Judy was expected to track a long way north of Aotearoa "without a big impact on our weather".
