Severe storm threat as heavy rain hits Brisbane

More than 60mm has been dumped on some Brisbane suburbs in less than a day, with the weather bureau warning severe thunderstorms are possible for the southeast this afternoon.

South East Queensland is in for a day of wet and miserable weather as showers blanket the region and severe storms loom on the horizon.

A trough in central New South Wales yesterday pushed showers over the Queensland border and toward the coast, bringing widespread heavy rainfall.

Bureau of Meteorology Senior Forecaster, Kimber Wong, said the Brisbane and Gold Coast regions had seen “some reasonably hefty” rainfall totals between 9am Wednesday and 6am Thursday, with the Bray Park rain gauge recording 61mm while Bracken Ridge saw 40mm.

“The higher side of the totals have definitely been on the north side of the city,” Ms Wong said.

The Brisbane CBD was barely visible from the Mt Coot-tha lookout yesterday afternoon. Supplied.

Most gauges in the Brisbane area reported around 30mm, further south Currumbin and Coolangatta recorded 39mm, and Texas on the border recorded 55mm.

The rain was mostly localised to the south east corner, with the Sunshine Coast recording 10mm-15mm across coastal areas and 30mm further inland at Kingaroy.

Ms Wong said the rain would continue into Thursday morning and could potentially trigger thunderstorm activity.

“If we have a look at the radar there’s pretty widespread areas of showers around southeast Queensland, particularly in the Brisbane and Gold Coast regions,” she said.

“This morning is going to be particularly miserable, it’s very overcast and these showers are expected to continue at least for the next few hours.”

Ms Wong described Thursday afternoon’s weather as “a bit of a question mark,” saying that severe storms could form if clearing clouds allow the atmosphere to warm up enough to introduce humid instability.

“Some storms are possible this afternoon if we see that sunshine coming through,” she said.

“We definitely wouldn’t rule out the chance of a severe storm if we see enough daytime heating.”

The bureau has urged residents in impacted areas to keep across the warnings page on their website throughout the day.

“It’s definitely a day to keep an eye on our radar and probably not for outdoor activities,” Ms Wong said.