Eerie ‘UFO’ clouds form as storms continue to pound the southeast
Spectacular clouds reminiscent of UFO’s have formed over Queensland amid further storms lashing the southeast of the state. See the latest warnings here.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
New severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued for parts of the state’s south, with residents told to brace for large hail, damaging winds and heavy rain.
It comes after storms rolled across the region all day Thursday, following an intense storm unleashed on Brisbane and the Gold Coast late Wednesday night which dumped 72mm of rain in some areas.
The latest warning was issued at 3.21pm for Gympie, South Burnett and Sunshine Coast Council areas, with heavy rainfall, large hailstones and damaging winds possible.
“At 3.15pm, severe thunderstorms likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding, large hailstones and damaging winds were detected near the area north of Goomeri,” the latest warning said.
“These thunderstorms are moving towards the north to northeast. They are forecast to affect Maroochydore, waters off Maroochydore and the area south of Biggenden by 3.45pm and waters off Coolum Beach by 4.15pm.”
Meanwhile at 3.15pm it was reported a fallen tree branch has caused more than 1700 people to lose power on the Sunshine Coast.
According to an Energex spokesman, a tree branch has fallen on overhead powerlines at Caloundra Rd, Little Mountain, causing about 1739 customers to lose power.
“We have a tree branch on mains and that’s causing the outage,” the spokesman said.
“A crew has been dispatched and they shouldn’t be too far away.”
Earlier warnings issued for parts of Toowoomba, Brisbane City and Moreton Bay council areas have since been cancelled.
A more general severe thunderstorm warning is also current for parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett, Southeast Coast and Darling Downs and Granite Belt districts.
Earlier, an intense hailstorm hit the Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley and Southern Downs region.
Warnings for the early morning hailstorm were first issued about 6am but were cancelled by about 8.30am.
There were also storm warnings Thursday morning for parts of South Burnett, Cherbourg and Gympie council areas as multiple systems lashed the state’s south.
A rare storm cloud formation was spotted in the Darling Downs in the early hours of this morning.
A lenticular storm cloud formation was seen during a storm that moved towards Oakey and other areas north of Toowoomba around sunrise.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, lenticular clouds are near-stationary, lens-shaped clouds that usually form when air is lifted over an elevated area—typically by stronger winds—and a wave is formed in the flow.
The formation was photographed by local residents in Catella, Meringandan, and Meringandan West just after 5am.
Higgins Storm Chasing described the clouds as a “UFO looking storm”.
Thursday’s storm activity come after an intense system hit multiple parts of the state’s south late Wednesday night, including Brisbane, with clean-up efforts still underway Thursday morning.
Bureau community information officer Daniel Hayes earlier said an upper level trough pushed through southern Queensland brought wild storms to parts of Maranoa and Warrego, Darling Downs and into Brisbane overnight.
“Falls around Brisbane pushed up to 50mm. We did see some falls to 60 to 70mm. We had 57mm in an hour come down a Maroon Dam with a total of 64mm,” Mr Hayes said.
58mm of rain was recorded in 47 minutes at Goolman in Ipswich, 45mm in 30 minutes south of Ripley and 30 to 40mm in Brisbane.
“Most of the activity this morning has been back through the southern downs and to Scenic Rim and Lockyer Valley areas, and we do still have severe thunderstorm warnings active in that area at the moment.”
Mr Hayes said storms will continue to develop later this afternoon for parts of the south east and will ease going into Sunday.
“We may see activity increasing through Friday and Saturday, probably peaking around Saturday. The trough is going to continue to lie through the inlet areas, and we’ll still have that ridge along the coast that is pushing moisture into the trough,” Mr Hayes said.
“That will allow continuation of shower and storm activity.”
Meanwhile, western Queensland is set to swelter and is facing severe heatwave conditions, with Mr Hayes warning that some parts could see mid 40Cs even high 40Cs in the coming days.
“Longreach, Birdsville are going for 44C today and I think 47C by Saturday, looking and continuing high temperatures through there,” Mr Hayes said.
It comes after parts of Brisbane and the Gold Coast were smashed by severe thunderstorms overnight with heavy rain and wild winds unleashing on the southeast.
Emergency services were called to Indooroopilly about 9.30pm on Wednesday after reports of a man who was trapped in his car which had been hit by a fallen tree.
Multiple paramedics attended the scene and assessed a man, aged in his 70s, who was trapped by his arm.
The man was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a stable condition.
More than 20 callouts were made to SES since 4pm on Wednesday. There were 12 calls made for Brisbane, five for Moreton Bay, two to Ipswich, two to Redlands, two South Burnett and one for Toowoomba mainly for trees and structural assistance.
According to Energex, 170 homes and businesses are without power in Indooroopilly following the severe weather. About 200 customers are also without power in Brookfield and Windsor.
Last night, the weather bureau issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 9.45pm for people in parts of Brisbane City and the City of Moreton Bay areas.
“A severe thunderstorm likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding was detected near Brisbane CBD and Enoggera,” the warning read.
“This thunderstorm is moving towards the north. It is forecast to affect Boondall, Sandgate and Brighton by 10:10pm and Strathpine, Redcliffe and Scarborough by 10:40pm.”
Brisbane has a 80 per cent chance of rain today with falls of up to 10mm possible while there are a chance for thunderstorms, according to the bureau.
Last night’s warning comes after 58mm of rainfall was recorded at Goolman Alert in the hour to 8:57pm, 45mm was recorded at South Ripley (Wards Rd) in the 30 minutes to 8:53pm, 47mm was recorded at Washpool Alert in the 30 minutes to 8:22pm, and 57mm was recorded at Maroon Dam HW Alert in the hour to 7:38pm.
Earlier 72mm of rainfall was recorded at Queen Mary Falls in the hour to 6:58pm, 53mm was recorded at Carrs Lookout in the 30 minutes to 6:39pm, and 44mm was recorded at White Swamp in the 30 minutes to 6:54pm.
“They are forecast to affect Little Nerang Dam, Mudgeeraba and Canungra by 7.15pm and the area northeast of Kingaroy, Cherbourg and Goomeri by 7.45pm.”
Heavy falls have been recorded in the Scenic Rim late on Wednesday afternoon and parts of the southwest have copped hail.
A more general severe thunderstorm warning is also current for parts of the Central Highlands and Coalfields, Wide Bay and Burnett, Maranoa and Warrego, Darling Downs and Granite Belt and Southeast Coast regions. Locations which may be affected include Taroom, Injune and Carnarvon National Park.
Photographs on social media reveal large and widespread hail near St George, in Queensland’s southwest and the Bureau says 3cm was observed in that area, while 2cm hail was reported in Roma about 4.30.
It’s the start of what the Bureau of Meteorology says could be a volatile period throughout Queensland.
The chance of thunderstorms continues from Thursday across much of Queensland and are forecast to bring severe storms, producing damaging wind gusts in the south.
Bureau community information officer Daniel Hayes warned of the potential for daily storms through inland parts of the state throughout the week.
“The may start to develop later this afternoon with a few storms in the Maranoa and Warrego and with storms showing in that area, and activity in northern NSW south of the border Scenic Rim,” Mr Hayes said on Wednesday.
“90km wind gusts in parts of Darling Downs, Granite Belt and Scenic Rim and parts of the Maranoa and Warrego.”
Mr Hayes said storm activity would increase over the coming days and shower activity would become more widespread with the potential for storms to produce more than 100mm of rain.
There is the possibility of severe thunderstorms inland between Emerald and Toowoomba on Friday.
“Shower activity looking 10 to 15mm each day through Friday to Sunday and elements of hit and miss in some areas. As there will be thunderstorms in the mix some isolated heavier falls will push into the 50mm in some areas,” Mr Hayes said.
“It’s possible with some areas receiving 10 to 15mm and thunderstorms in the mix; you could see some accumulations go over the 100mm over the coming days.”
“Likely that will be fairly isolated showers, in the Central Highlands and Wide Burnett but can’t rule out that it might affect the south east.”
Join the conversation
‘Ashamed of yourselves’: Swim club sackings slammed as ‘death in the family’
An Aussie swimming star and his mother have slammed the axing of Churchie Swim Club’s top coaches, saying the move is akin to a death in the family. READ THE FULL LETTER
Read more
Lollipop man in court over alleged $700k in cannabis seed sales
A South East Queensland man previously busted over THC lollipops is back before the courts accused of selling 285 types of cannabis seeds worth $700,000 while on parole, the crown alleges.
Read more