South East Queensland’s “unusual” weather patterns of dark clouds, wind and light rain to stick around

South East Queensland has been hit with ‘unusual’ weather patterns over the weekend with most areas on the coast looking to be on the brink of a storm that arrives ... with no rain.

Bizarre weather phenomena and colder than average temperatures have marked the beginning of an “unusual” spring that is forecast to continue to be cool and wet.

Average temperatures have been steadily below average across the southeast, while faux storms sent people running for cover on the Gold Coast.

On Sunday afternoon what appeared to be a large storm front moved across the Gold Coast, turning day into night and whipping up strong southerly winds.

Storms on the Gold Coast at the weekend that delivered strong winds and wild skies, but no rain.

Many fled from afternoon activities, expecting a storm was about to hit with a deluge, but as soon as it came, it was gone, with no rain, thunder or lightning.

BOM meteorologist Livio Regano said it has been a very “unusual” weather pattern for October.

WEATHER: POST LA NINA ZOMBIE VORTEX THREATENS SOUTHEAST

Storm fronts roll over the Gold Coast, bringing wild wind gusts but no rain. Picture: 9 News

He said spring is normally dry, but we had already seen two wet weather systems move in from the west.

“They draw moisture from the oceans to the north west of Australia, which are overheated at the moment because of the negative Indian Ocean Dipole,” he said.

The ghost storm taking over Wellington Point on Sunday night. Picture: Sharon Woolich.

“It increases the amount of moisture in the air, generally right over Queensland, and whenever we have a weather system we have a much better chance of getting those cloudy skies and potential rain from it.”

Wild storms brew off the Gold Coast. Picture: Ryan Keen

Mr Regano said the coast was “lucky” to avoid the heavy rain that many inland areas saw.

“We expected the system to weaken before it reached the coast. It was meant to be heavier inland and weaken before it reached the coast and that’s exactly what it did,” he said.

Parts of central southern Queensland saw tops of up to 150mm over the course of the week before the rain dropped off while heading east where tops of 15mm fell over the week on the south east coast.

Mr Regano said spring will continue to be wetter and colder than average due to the negative Indian Ocean Dipole, which creates warmer temperatures in the tropical East Indian ocean, and La Nina.

“Everything about October and Spring as a whole so far has been unusual. It’s going to be an unusual spring and summer this year,” he said.

Storm cells roll over the Gold Coast at the weekend.

For the next two weeks, temperatures are likely to be below median while there is more than double the average chance of unusually cool maximum temperatures, according to the bureau.

This week however, most of the rain should be gone by the end of today, at least until the weekend, Mr Regano said.

“We should be reasonably safe from rain with about a 10 per cent chance for the rest of the week. Wednesday will be quite cloudy and other days will be partly cloudy,” he said.

Temperatures should hit highs of about 24C until Friday, when it will increase to 27C and overnight lows will fluctuate from 13C to 16C.

There will also be more wind around off the back of the strong wind warnings for offshore waters for south east winds.