Australia Weather News

A low-pressure system trough is expected to deepen today, bringing the possibility of high rainfall and thunderstorms in south-east Queensland.

Forecasters said the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Darling Downs should expect more dreary conditions.

Morgan Pumpa from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said the focus would be on the border ranges from Goondiwindi across to the Gold Coast.

The chance of the heaviest rainfall and thunderstorms is on the Gold Coast, but Brisbane will experience shower and thunderstorm activity with rainfall between 7 and 40 millimetres likely.

"It will depend on thunderstorm activity, but at Coolangatta we have a forecast of 15–70mm on Thursday alone, and 3–30mm on Friday," Ms Pumpa said.

BOM rainfall data shows the heaviest falls in the south-east were recorded at Coombabah Creek on the Gold Coast, where 70 millimetres of rain had fallen since 9am on Wednesday.

Kelly Malloy arrived to work at Animal Welfare League Queensland's Coombabah shelter on Thursday to find "a bit of a slosh" at the property.

"We're keeping all the animals dry and everyone as comfortable as they can, but you can definitely tell there was a lot of rain here," Ms Malloy said.

She said staff and volunteers at the shelter were busy clearing drains of debris that had fallen from trees in the neighbouring nature reserve.

"We're pretty used to the clean up here after tornadoes and cyclones and other random weather events," she said.

At North Stradbroke Island, the BOM weather station had recorded 58 millimetres in the same period, and Double Island Point, near Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, recorded 49 millimetres of rain.

Areas around the Darling Downs and Granite Belt can also expect widespread rain, which could lead to river rises.

"It's really important for people living in these areas to look at the radar and keep an eye on the shower activity, and stay up to date with all the latest warnings," Ms Pumpa said.

"There's probably more of a concern over the border in New South Wales for flooding conditions, but for Queensland, we're focused on severe thunderstorm warnings."

Senior meteorologist Angus Hines said the wet conditions were unusual.

"We would often go long stretches without any rain, or minimal rain, across Queensland [in August]," he said.

"Some places have already had above 50mm of rain, and when we add in what we're expecting during Thursday, we could see some spots over 100mm for the week, which is quite a wet week at any time of year, but particularly at this time of year."

Last year, the BOM recorded 71mm of rain through August for parts of the south-east.

Beyond the southern towns, Mr Hines said cloudy skies and some spotty showers were forecast from the Wide Bay to Mackay through Thursday. 

"You might see a small amount of rainfall in those districts without it really tipping the rain gauges over more than about one or two millimetres," he said.

"We have a fine, clear and sunny day across central and western parts of Queensland."

He said temperatures would be relatively cool across the south of the state and warm in the north.

"It's been a cold couple of days around Brisbane [and] it's going to be on the cooler side of average again," Mr Hines said.

"Western and northern parts of the state are a fair bit warmer with those clearer skies and sunshine, and in fact a lot of places in northern Queensland tending to be one or two degrees warmer than average for this time of year."

Sunny weekend for most of the state

Mr Hines said the rain would clear during Friday.

"It could be a wet start to the day, but by about lunchtime it looks like most of that rain has gone," he said.

"The rest of the state is heading for a pretty dry day."

He said a sunny weekend was on the cards for most of the state.

"A couple of showers are possible around the Capricornia and the Central Coast, but really minimal rainfall forecast anywhere across Queensland this weekend," Mr Hines said.

"We're expecting to see far more sunshine than cloud cover."