Australia Weather News

Queensland's outback communities are celebrating much-needed rainfall, with some towns recording their biggest downpours in almost 12 months.

The biggest falls were recorded in the Central Highlands west of Emerald, where Upper Retreat has recorded 176 millimetres since 9:00am Friday.

In western Queensland, near Richmond, Burleigh has had 129mm and on the tropical coast Kennedy received 136mm.

It has made for some unique outdoor adventures for those brave enough to take on the mud.

In one video posted on social media, two teenagers are seen making the most of the rain, which has transformed their desilted dam at Condamine (west of Dalby) into a tobogganing paradise.

They are seen body-surfing down the muddy cavity before splashing about the shallow brown puddles.

"Boys will be boys," mother Heidi Beeton joked.

She said the region had only received 8mm yesterday but it was still enough to be joyous about.

In Pentland, West of Charters Towers, Tess Pemble said it has been "a long time" since she had seen rain this hard.

"The pump needs turning off but it can wait," she posted alongside a video which showed pools of water forming on paddocks which have sat bone-dry for months.

In the Central West near Mt Isa, Boulia Shire Mayor Rick Britton said he got 30mm on his property out of town but Boulia recorded 70mm, which he said was a "good start".

"The last time we recorded rain was May last year but our substantial rain was in February, March last year," he said.

"Some of the shire was doing it pretty tough so hopefully they'll be the ones to get a bit and then give them a bit of heart ."

Cr Britton said the prospect of more rain was good news for graziers and the local economy and he is hoping that by the end of the week, all parts of the shire will have had "a crack at it".

"Queensland, well Australia [in general] needs a really good soaking and with the cattle market the way it is we hope everyone gets a good season so they can take advantage of it," he said.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecaster Alex Majchrowski said Queensland's drought-stricken communities could look forward to further rain.

"The rain is definitely welcome and more rain is expected over the next few days," Mr Majchrowski said.

"Hopefully, the development of a monsoon trough sometime next week will continue to bring rain to the area."

But he warned the rain will bring with it the risk of flash flooding in the Gulf Country (to towns including Mount Isa, Doomadgee and Normanton).

"Over the next few weeks it is really the northern and central west areas that we can expect to get the most rainfall and that's sort of expected to persist until Thursday," he said.

In the south-east of the state, Mr Majchrowski said slow-moving thunderstorms dumped falls of up to 70 millimetres west of Brisbane this morning.

While a lot more rain is needed across the state's drought-stricken communities, the weekend's downpour has brought hope for a change in season and more rain to come.

LocationOvernight fallsBoulia 65mmMount Isa 22mmJulia Creek 54mmHulberts Bridge (East of Julia Creek) 114mmBurleigh (North East of Mount Isa) 129mmCloncurry 18mmHughenden 41mmRichmond 63mmBurketown 33mmNormanton 35mmUrandangi 40mmLongreach 40mm

ABC