Farmers and cattle graziers affected by drought in Queensland could be celebrating a holiday if only tropical Cyclone Zane came in a bit early to water the state's barren farmlands.

Residents and communities along the coastal areas between Orford Ness and Cape Melville have been warned to brace for a dangerous storm tide as tropical Cyclone Zane crosses late tonight or early tomorrow.

"The sea is likely to rise steadily up to a level well above the normal tide, with damaging waves and flooding of some low-lying areas close to the shoreline," the Bureau of Meteorology Web site said.

Eric Leister, meteorologist from accuweather.com said landfall is expected across the northern half of the Cape York Peninsula on Wednesday night. The resulting floods can cut some of the small towns of the region off for several days.

The system is currently located 515 kilometres east-south-east of Lockhart River, moving west-north-west at 11 kilometres an hour.

Although it could upgrade into a category three storm in a few hours, it however could weaken to a category one or two by the time it makes landfall on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

"Probably only be a category one as it gets onto the coastal areas," forecaster Bill O'Connor from the weather bureau said.

"We did have on the earlier [report] potentially getting onto category three, but it looks like it's starting to weaken a fair bit."

The rainfall was bound to have been welcome news for Queensland farmers and cattle graziers who watched with envy as Australia's east coast continued to get drenched while they stayed dry in what could be one of the possibly heart-breaking and nerve-wrecking summers.

On Monday, at least 13 council areas in the state have been officially declared drought-stricken, a first in two years. As such, farmers and cattle graziers are entitled to receive subsidies for freighting water and fodder of up to $20,000.