Gold Coast weather: Massive storm bears down on Coast

A vast storm front has hit the Gold Coast, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning damaging winds, heavy rain and hailstones can be expected while it continues.

A VAST storm front battered the Gold Coast on Saturday evening, bringing lightning, high wind and heavy rain to the city.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned large hailstones and damaging winds were possible as the city was battered by the monster storm.

The Bureau earlier issued urgent alerts after radar images showed a band of rain, several hundred kilometres long, moving swiftly north east from northern NSW towards south-east Queensland.

The storms follow a hot December day on the Coast, which saw some suburbs top 30C and drew large school holiday crowds to the beaches.

⚠️⛈️ Severe thunderstorm detailed #warning update: very dangerous severe thunderstorm with a chance of destructive winds and giant hail. Details and updates: https://t.co/FBmpsInT9opic.twitter.com/hZOudZWeET

— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) December 4, 2021

The Bureau said the “very dangerous” storms were detected on radar at 6.15pm. They had reached most parts of the Gold Coast an hour later.

“Damaging, locally destructive winds, large, possibly giant hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely,” the Bureau’s alert said.

“Multiple locations over the border have recorded damaging wind gusts in excess of 90km/h, peaking at 139 km/h at Byron Bay.”

The Bureau said locations expected to be affected by the storms included the Gold Coast, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Gatton and Jimboomba.

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