Australia Weather News

Supercell thunderstorms are expected over parts of Queensland and New South Wales today after hailstones of up to 10 centimetres hit Queensland's Fraser Coast overnight.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for south-east Queensland for damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall.

The storms are likely to affect parts of the Southern Downs and Toowoomba areas and are moving towards the east to north-east.

Senior meteorologist Harry Clarke said the "ingredients are in place" for a tornado.

"It still remains highly unlikely that we will actually record one but ... this would be one of the higher risk days of seeing that," he said.

Thousands of homes also lost power.

On Monday, footage from Maryborough showed hail banking up across a road.

Meteorologist Jonathon How said the atmosphere remained "highly unstable", with a "significant" storm day expected from the NSW south coast to Queensland's Fraser Coast.

Mr How said supercells could develop across north-east NSW and south-east and central Queensland.

"There is a possibility of seeing those very dangerous thunderstorms … with destructive wind gusts of more than 125 kilometres an hour," Mr How said.

"These are the sort of wind gusts which can bring down trees as well as cause damage to property.

"Giant hail is possible, which can cause quite substantial damage to things like vehicles."

Mr How said heavy rainfall and dangerous thunderstorms were also expected across the Gold Coast, Brisbane, inland Darling Downs and the Sunshine Coast.

"We are reminding people right across south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales to keep across the radar as well as those warnings once we get into the late morning and afternoon period," he said.