Qld weather: State braces for fourth day of severe thunderstorms
Queensland is facing a fourth day of severe thunderstorms, with forecasters warning “pretty much anywhere” could be in the firing line after another wild night.
Queensland is staring down the barrel of a fourth day of severe thunderstorms in a row, with forecasters warning “pretty much anywhere” in the state could be in the firing line.
Following Sunday night’s storms, which delivered 9cm hail, and Monday afternoon’s “nuclear” supercell storm that smashed the region with 12cm hail and 150kmh winds, Tuesday night’s storms delivered “earthquake”-like lightning strikes and heavy rain to much of the southeast.
More than 100mm of rain was recorded in places overnight, with Gayndah (110mm) and the Glasshouse Mountains (91mm) the worst affected.
Residents on the Gold Coast reported multiple lightning strikes, some of which “felt like an earthquake” as they hit, as the long band of severe storms swept across the southeast corner of the state.
The Moreton Bay region, which copped the worst of the damage from Monday afternoon’s storms, also received some of the night’s biggest rainfall totals, with Wamuran (68mm), Laceys Creek (62mm), Dayboro (62mm) and Elimbah (60mm) recording the biggest totals.
By 11am on Wednesday, more than 33,000 customers remained without power following Monday’s storm, which at its peak had cut power to 160,000.
The Queensland Government is yet to reveal whether disaster payments will be activated for residents and councils hit by Monday’s devastating storm.
Almost 39,000 homes and businesses remained without power at 6am on Wednesday, with the Moreton Bay region the hardest hit.
Disaster Recovery Minister Ann Leahy’s office has been asked whether the state will activate personal hardship payments for affected residents, but is yet to respond.
Senior Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury on Wednesday morning said Queensland has a risk of severe storms once again, with more damaging winds and large hail possible for the southeast.
“Storms are possible pretty much anywhere in Queensland except for the far northern tip of The Cape York Peninsula,” she said.
“Severe storms, however, are possible right along the coast so that extends from the southern parts of The Cape York Peninsula all the way through the eastern districts of Queensland and into the southeast, then pushes down into northeast and central New South Wales.
“For Queensland, the main risk is going to be rain for those northern and central areas, but we could see some damaging winds and large hail as well across the southeast.”
Ms Bradbury said the storms are most likely through the afternoon and evening.
“For communities which have already seen a few days of very strong severe storms, this is yet another day of very unsettled weather,” she said.
“It’s certainly another time to keep an eye on the radar and keep an eye out for any warnings that we do need to issue.”
She said storms developed through Queensland on Tuesday had brought widespread falls between 50mm and 100mm.
“Initially we saw them across inland areas, steadily becoming more widespread as the afternoon progressed,” she said.
Besides thunderstorms, Ms Bradbury said Queensland was also looking at very hot conditions, with an extreme heatwave warning active for the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, Herbert and Lower Burdekin, Central West and Channel Country regions, and a severe heatwave warning for the Peninsula, Gulf Country, Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders, Central Coast and Whitsundays, Capricornia, Central Highlands and Coalfields, North West, Maranoa and Warrego, Darling Downs and Granite Belt, Wide Bay and Burnett and Southeast Coast districts.
“Temperatures [are] three to 10C above average due to a hot air mass moving over the state and some of those warmest temperatures are forecast across southern parts of the state,” she said.
“Overnight, we’ve seen a pretty warm night in most areas, temperatures dropping down to the low to mid 20s through much of southern, south eastern and eastern Queensland.
“Along the coast, we’re going to see temperatures today in the low to mid 30s.”
Cairns will hit 33C, while 32C is expected for Brisbane, 31C for the Sunshine and Gold coasts.
This came as a heatwave alert is current for most of the states, including a severe warning for the southeast coast.
“Those heatwave warnings are likely to continue over the next couple of days, but gradually continue contracting eastwards late this week as temperatures start to return close to average,” Ms Bradbury said.
Top rainfall total overnight to 6am
Gayndah (North Burnett): 110mm
Glasshouse Mountains (Sunshine Coast): 91mm
Wamuran (Moreton Bay): 68mm
Laceys Creek (Moreton Bay): 62mm
Dayboro (Moreton Bay): 62mm
Moodlu (Moreton Bay): 62mm
Beerburrum (Sunshine Coast): 61mm
Elimbah (Moreton Bay): 60mm
‘Big dumpers’: Severe storm threat hangs over SEQ
