Queensland weather: From winter wonderland to searing heat

After a family captured amazing footage of a dusty Queensland road transformed into a “winter wonderland”, forecasters have warned that 40C temperatures are just around the corner.

TO the untrained eye, it would appear snow had blanketed the Western Downs on Tuesday afternoon.

Stunning photographs captured near Condamine depict dusty country roads buried under hundreds of kilograms of hail from thunderstorms that passed overhead about 3pm.

Bureau of Meteorology forecasters said cold temperatures in the upper atmosphere above the region had produced an abundance of small hail and healthy rainfall.

A dusty road near Condamine was transformed into a winter wonderland.

Amanda Walsh had been driving with her family when the deluge began.

“Not what we expected to see coming back through Queensland,” she posted to Facebook.

“It dropped 15 degrees so quickly turned dark and then we were driving through hail.

“We didn’t want to keep going… Awesome though!”

It may look like snow but it's actually the leftovers from a Queensland hail storm. Picture: Amanda Walsh

The weather is about to change again, however, with ­unseasonably warm temperatures forecast.

Temperatures in Ipswich are set to hit 40 degrees next week as the volatile upper trough and upper low responsible for storms in the region move away.

An upper ridge will fill that vacuum, allowing temperatures to heat up considerably, a Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman said.

Snow-like hail near Condamine. Picture: Amanda Walsh

Ipswich will see maximum temperatures of 35, 37 and 40 degrees between Saturday October 5 and Tuesday October 8.

Brisbane is expected to top 36C on Tuesday.