A Heavy Rain Alert is now in force for the entire Fiji Group, while Strong Wind Alerts have been issued for several land and marine areas as Tropical Disturbance TD07F moves closer to the region.

The Fiji Meteorological Service says TD07F was officially numbered at midday today and was located near 13.9 degrees south and 167.9 degrees east, to the northeast of Vanuatu and well northwest of Fiji.

The system is forecast to move south-southeast between Vanuatu and Fiji over the next two days and is expected to strengthen into a tropical depression by tomorrow, although the likelihood of it developing into a tropical cyclone remains low.

An associated active trough of low pressure is expected to bring occasional to periods of heavy rain across the country from later tomorrow. Rainfall is forecast to ease by Friday.

Strong wind conditions are anticipated from later tomorrow, with fresh to strong northwesterly winds reaching up to 55 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 80 kilometres per hour.

These conditions are expected over the Yasawa and Mamanuca groups, northern Vanua Levu, western and northern Viti Levu, Kadavu and nearby islands.

Similar strong wind conditions are forecast for southwest Viti Levu waters, Yasawa and Mamanuca waters, northern Vanua Levu waters, and the Kadavu and Vatu-i-Ra passages.

Winds are expected to gradually ease by later Thursday as the system moves away from the group.