A tropical cyclone developing near the Solomon Islands has the potential to strike New Zealand, but we won’t know if Aotearoa will be hit for a few days yet, says 1News meteorologist Dan Corbett.

Currently, a tropical depression is forming south of the Solomon Islands in the Coral Sea. It is moving west as it turns into a cyclone - which could happen as early as tomorrow.

Corbett said the likelihood of the cyclone hitting depends on westerly winds that would steer it towards us.

"You need a mechanism to bring it down here and potentially affect us if it does," he said.

"Putting on the steering winds is what we call the westerlies; it's gonna sit up there with no push. It’s gonna develop with a big upper high to it's south, and this is what steers it."

He compared an upper-level tough (a line of low-pressure air) pushing the cyclone to a person being nudged on the street which would move it south.

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He said if it’s pushed towards New Zealand, it could arrive late Monday or Tuesday next week.

But if it gets a nudge away from New Zealand, we would only feel the edges of it.

"We won't really know until later this week," he said.