Brisbane weather: Event cancellations but deluge fails to arrive

One key shift in weather conditions meant South East Queensland hardly saw a drop of rain at the weekend, but that hasn’t softened the blow for those stung by event cancellations.

Felicity Ripper

2 min read

November 29, 2021 - 2:16PM

Flash flooding hits Mackay with some suburbs recording 300mm in 24 hours

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One key factor meant most of South East Queensland hardly saw a drop of rain at the weekend despite predictions of a deluge and possible flooding.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Helen Reid said weather in the southeast could be volatile year-round but things were particularly prone to change quickly during the storm season over spring and summer.

There was one key condition responsible for stabilising thunderstorm activity over the southeast at the weekend.

“We did still have some thunderstorms creeping down to the south but they were kept away from the Brisbane area due to a slight shift in wind direction and therefore the air mass that’s dominating that south eastern corner,” Ms Reid said.

“And that’s still there today although it’s gradually losing its influence on that little corner in the southeast.

“Tomorrow we can expect to see an increase in rainfall and thunderstorm action through there tomorrow.”

Danielle Simpson had five markets cancelled over the past week due to wet weather forecasts.

While the rain never eventuated, small business owners and event organisers were still left devastated after dozens of cancellations based on weather forecasts.

Market stallholder and Bow Keep owner Danielle Simpson said she was due to sell her products at five events since Wednesday which were postponed due to wind and rain forecast.

She was frustrated to look out the window at the weekend to find Brisbane had been spared of the wet weather.

“It was awful because markets are my bread and butter, this is my full-time job,” Ms Simpson said.

“So to have these cancellations while bouncing back from Covid-19 is absolutely devastating and there were tears.

“But event organisers need to keep us safe and in the event of strong wind and bad weather, no amount of gazebo weights is going to keep us safe.

“They made the best decision they could with the information they had from forecasts.”

The Bureau of Meteorology issued several flood warnings last Wednesday as the state prepared for more heavy rain to end a wet spring.

South East Queensland was expected to be in the firing line for storms to move over the coast on Friday and into the weekend.

But according to BOM, Brisbane hasn’t received a millimetre of rain since a measly shower brought 0.2mm about 1.30am Saturday.

Coolangatta was also dry as was most of the Sunshine Coast where the airport recorded a few light showers late in the evenings.

Other parts of the state however didn't dodge the rain with 106mm falling on Mackay in the 24 hours to Monday morning, 42mm at Warwick and 30mm at Cairns.

“Those numbers up near Mackay were very high but just within 15km there wasn’t nearly as much so there is just a very narrow band which can pick up a lot with thunderstorm action and we’ve seen that through the southeast as well,” Ms Reid said.

“We’ve had days where there was that line of showers through the middle of Brisbane and elsewhere didn’t get nearly as much.”

Ms Reid said the a slight drying of the atmosphere meant the bureau wasn’t expecting a big widespread rain band to bring intense thunderstorms over the next week.

Queenslanders can expect more isolated thunderstorms into the weekend and next week.