Mackay's Bureau of Meteorology radar is back online - just in time for Sugar City residents who await Cyclone Jasper's landfall date.
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The Mackay radar has been out of action since June 1, with December 20 previously circled for the live-date.
However, with the category four cyclone veering towards the north, BoM has fast-tracked works to get the radar online before Jasper reaches the coast.
On Friday morning, the Bureau issued an update that Jasper was 1200km east north-east of Cairns, and was expected to approach the North Queensland coast next week.
While the timing remains uncertain, BoM has predicted the highest risk of impact "between about Cooktown and Townsville, including Cairns".
As North Queensland stares down the impending cyclone, farmers across the region are tentatively preparing for what impact - if any - the tropical system could have on northern properties.
Cane and cattle farmer Brendan Smith has owned his 350ha property, 15km north of Proserpine, for five years.
When Debbie hit in 2017, he was living in Bowen, and apart from timber strewn over his fence and some damage to property infrastructure, he said the rain was - and is always - a highlight.
"With (cyclones) comes rain and it's welcome...but the wind causes (the damage)," he said.
"(Other growers I've spoken to are also) keen for the rain. Proserpine is a pretty wet joint but not at the moment. We could do with a couple of hundred mms across the region, just not at once.
"It's dry at the moment and everyone is out irrigating. It takes a lot of stress away from farmers in that way.
"The whole region needs (the rain), so whatever wind we get with it, that's just part of working in our environment and the agricultural industry."
Mr Smith has been taking preemptive steps to secure his property and his 210 cows and calves.
"What we're doing is finishing hilling up our plant cane. We've put our cattle in our rich paddock, our higher paddock, and then it's just general tidy up around the property."
Bloomsbury mango farmer John Lee paid a visit to Proserpine's P&D Industrial on December 7, and found all the generators had been snapped up by locals in preparation for Jasper.
"People start panicking and when they panic, they start to buy stuff they shouldn't buy and then there's nothing there. There's a difference between what you want and what you need," he said.
Mr Lee has done a "clean up" around his property, but is not too worried about the impact of the tropical cyclone given its trajectory route towards Cairns.
"I went through Ada and Debbie...Debbie, even then didn't impact me too much," he said.
"It was windy yesterday. If it tracks past us and goes down the coast, it can be really raining and everything but...once it's gone, half an hour later the sun is out."
However, Mr Lee said the best method for cyclone preparation is leaning on neighbours and reaching out to others to help prepare and ensure safety.
"Don't keep (your preparation) to yourself, tell someone about it...tell someone 'if you don't hear from me in two days' time, tell someone where I am'," he said.
"The biggest thing about preparation, you clean your yard up but the other thing is making someone else aware of your situation.
"Let other people be aware of what's coming. I'm out west at the farm (Kelsey's Creek) and everyone keeps an eye out, asks if you're alright, if you need fuel or anything - being good neighbours to each other."
