The US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) has declared that a Category 1 tropical cyclone has formed near New Caledonia.
Fiji Met, which holds regional responsibility for naming cyclones, said the system remains a tropical depression and has been analysed as Tropical Depression TD06F.
According to Fiji Met, the centre of TD06F is slow moving.
The weather office noted that while the system lies under good upper-level divergence and low to moderate wind shear, conditions are not favourable for further development.
“Deep convection remains displaced to the northwest of the supposed low-level circulation centre, with dry air entrainment building from the southwest,” Fiji Met said.
Sea surface temperatures around the system are estimated at 28 degrees Celsius.
Fiji Met said the system is currently being steered southeastward by a near-equatorial ridge and is expected to continue moving in that direction over the next 24 hours.
“Global models have picked up the system with little intensification,” Fiji Met said, adding that the potential for the system to develop into a tropical cyclone is very low over the next 48 hours.
The system poses no threat to Fiji.
