‘Wintry blast’ to follow storms in Toowoomba

THE Darling Downs is in for an interesting week of weather, with severe thunderstorms to give way to a freezing “wintry blast” - here’s when.

THE Darling Downs is in for an interesting week of weather, with severe thunderstorms to give way to a freezing "wintry blast" come Saturday.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Lauren Murphy said thunderstorms were predicted in the region this afternoon.

"A vigorous surface trough and upper trough will cause storms throughout the afternoon, some of them potentially severe," Ms Murphy said.

"A phenomenon of concern are the damaging winds, with a small risk of locally destructive wind gusts in excess of 125kmh.

"They will be fast moving, so there won't be significant rainfall totals - for the most part 1-6mm in Toowoomba."

She said the storms would ease off in the late afternoon, and winds would drop tomorrow.

"Once the winds drop we will see the temperatures plummet," she said.

"It's a classic winter snap pattern, sheltered areas on the Darling Downs are expected to have minimum temperatures of zero and subzero degrees come Saturday morning."

BoM has forecast Stanthorpe temperatures dropping to -2 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, well below the average May minimum of 5.4 degrees.

Toowoomba temperatures are expected to fall to four degrees on Saturday.

BoM also released a warning yesterday afternoon for sheep graziers, which warned of lamb and sheep loss if the animals were exposed to the weather. 

Ms Murphy said the dry conditions and low temperatures would continue into next week where they would gradually warm again.