Cold, wet and windy with a chance of storms ahead
BOM forecaster says a wetter winter could be on the cards for the Gympie region.
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STORMS have been predicted to hit the region, followed by a rain and a chilly weekend.
BOM Meteorologist Alex Majchrowski said storms could be expected today, although “they are slightly more likely off shore”.
Tuesday’s winds will turn south-easterly 15 to 20 km/h in the middle of the day, becoming light in the early afternoon.
“Later on in the week it’s going to get pretty interesting,” Mr Majchrowski said.
There was the possibility of up to 12mm of rain, followed by a big chill for the weekend.
Overnight temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are expected to be 8C and 9C.
Gympie may also be in for a wetter winter, following a dry summer and spring.
Mr Majchrowski said in February Gympie saw a total rainfall of 175mm, March had 64.4mm, April had 22.8mm and May so far had 2.6mm.
However, there was a 70-80 per cent chance Gympie’s average rainfall in winter would be exceeded Mr Majchrowski said.
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“Winter months are generally dryer so we’re not expecting as much rainfall, however it is looking like it’s shaping up to be a bit wetter winter than usual.
“The average Gympie rainfall for June is 60.2mm, July is 51.3mm and the driest month, August, is 39.8mm.”
Mr Majchrowski said by mid-June it would be easier to tell how much rain was in store for the season.
“The reason why we’re expecting a wetter than average winter at this stage, is because it’s looking more likely that we’ll have the reverse of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) system.”
The IOD is one of the key drivers of Australia’s climate, which caused summer and spring to be dryer, so we may see the opposite effect in winter, he said.
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