Australia Weather News

A Brisbane storm chaser is finding new ways to keep residents informed about approaching wild weather, as south east Queensland's storm season ramps up.

On Saturday, a storm cell that passed over Chinchilla, on the Darling Downs, pelted agricultural areas and destroyed valuable melon crops.

Yesterday, a storm that formed near Warwick made its way to Brisbane dumping damaging hail stones the size of eggs, and tearing roofs off houses.

Four men were also struck by lightning at Stanthorpe, on the Granite Belt.

Storm chaser Andy Barber, from South Brisbane Storms, said conditions this year mean there will be greater frequency of wild weather.

Mr Barber headed into the heart of the weekend's storms, and used social media to post live video updates to warn residents.

"The films were well received by the public, and the videos that were live on location when the storm was most intense did spread around the internet," he said.

"They did go semi-viral to a certain extent so there is a demand there for multimedia platforms.

"We have been testing these over the past few weeks, but it was well received and we will certainly be looking at that in future."

Mr Barber's films showed him and his colleague Justin in front of the storm, discussing its ferocity, warning nearby residents and predicting it's direction.

However, the advent of social media has made storm chasing a less profitable business venture.

Media outlets can now source high quality footage and photos from residents in a storm's path for free, rather than having to pay storm chasers for them.

"We provide a free service to the community with our thoughts on what is going to happen," Mr Barber said.

"These days people with phones can send it into the media, which is fairly quick.

"But from a chaser's point of view of actually selling footage, it is becoming a dying trade because it is so easy to get multimedia to news networks.

"It takes that element away from storm chasers, but our focus isn't on the money.

"It is on preparing the community of impeding damaging weather and bringing those storms to the lounge rooms of those who will be affected."

Mr Barber said the weekend storms across south east Queensland were largely unpredictable, and anticipates the rest of the storm season will be similar.

"I guess this season is a little bit of surprise in terms of the frequency of thunderstorms, it is a little up on the average than usual," he said.

November can be a particularly hazardous month for south east Queensland, as the storm seasons hits its half way point.

In late November last year, a storm cell that hit Brisbane brought with it large hail, wind and rain that damaged everything from cars and houses to city skyscrapers.

It tore leaves and branches from suburban trees, and resulted in over 100,000 insurance claims totalling more than $1 billion that took months for insurers to address.

Mr Barber said although storms are common in November, the severity of the current season is unexpected.

"Storm season typically runs from October to December so we are right in the middle of storm season," he said.

"Ideally you want to be in a neutral pattern which gives you a right balance between the dryness and moisture to make the thunderstorm happen.

"We are in an El Nino pattern, which is drier than average conditions, so it is a surprise we are getting high precipitation thunderstorms at the frequency we currently are."

More thunderstorms are predicted for later in the week.