Cold Christmas; rain and below average temperatures

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are shaping up to be cool and wet for most of southeast Queensland, with possible thunderstorms coming and temperatures set to plummet, little more than a week after they hit 42 degrees in Brisbane.

THE southeast coast can expect a chilly Christmas Day, with tops of 24C forecast for Brisbane tomorrow dropping from 30C today.

BOM Forecaster Gabriel Branescu said cloud is expected to shroud the southeast today and tomorrow, causing a colder than average December day.

Highs to hit 40s as SEQ swelters in heatwave

“Tomorrow will be a chilly day caused by cloud coverage so we expect some cooler than average temperatures,” he said.

The Gold Coast is predicted to reach a top of 23C tomorrow and The Sunshine Coast a maximum of 25C, both dropping 3C from today’s predicted highs.

As the festive celebration nears, with it comes the rain, as the Bureau of Meteorology predicts showers to settle in this afternoon.

Wet weather is expected to push in later today, with a possibility of an evening thunderstorm.

“The rain is mainly coming tonight and should ease off tomorrow but we will see isolated showers in Brisbane tomorrow”.

There will not be as much rain as initially expected, as Mr Branescu said the Southeast can expect anywhere between 10mm to 60mm of rainfall.

“We expect that to move north to Central Queensland on Thursday”.

On the Sunshine Coast, thunder, lightning, heavy rain and the potential for flash flooding are possible thanks to an upper trough moving in from the southwest.

The Bureau of Meteorology has gradually ramped up its Christmas rain predictions during the past week as weather modelling software fell into agreement.

Forecaster David Crock said rain would start to develop from this afternoon with potentially the heaviest storms occurring overnight and into Christmas morning.

The BOM has forecast a 95 per cent chance of any rain with 50 per cent chance of falls to 50mm and 25 per cent to 70mm.

Mr Crock said local totals under the heavier storms could be much higher. In those cases, flash flooding may occur with drainage unable to cope.

Western Queensland can expect a hot, dry day carrying into Christmas, as a surface trough has left a divide between the two sides of the state.

Mr Branescu said there is not enough rainfall predicted to impact the state’s drought.

To the north, above-average temperatures are set to warm Townsville, but chances of rain are increasing.

Today and on Christmas Day, temperatures in the city are expected to reach a high of 33C, slightly above the 31.5C average maximum temperatures for December.

To date, this December has been warm, averaging 33.5C, and far drier than normal.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Jess Gardner said just 2.4mm had been recorded in Townsville so far this month, well short of the December average of 126.9mm.

The chances of rain do increase after Christmas, however, with a 30 per cent chance of showers on Boxing Day.