Parts of Queensland to be hit by thunderstorms as others prepare for cooler mornings to come

Parts of Queensland may be hit by severe thunderstorms on Friday afternoon, ahead of rain and a cool change in coming days.

A band of thunderstorms is predicted to pick up across the state’s southwest and interior, potentially reaching as far as the southeast, bringing the potential for damaging winds, rain and even hail.

Areas though the channel country, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim, Toowoomba and even as far east as Ipswich are in the firing line.

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Senior Meteorologist Felim Hanniffy said the chance for isolated storms increases later in the afternoon and is the result of warmer air, moisture and a trough moving through southwestern Queensland — with cooler air coming through from behind.

“That’s what’s creating that increased instability,” he said.

“The watch point is the storms will be isolated, but we couldn’t rule out an isolated severe storm as well.”

Hanniffy said if a severe storm were to occur, it could bring the risk of large hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall.

“Today the risk, if any (storms) do develop in the southeast itself, it should remain well inland and away from the metro regions,” he said.

While the storm season in Queensland typically runs from November to April, this is the first storm in the region this spring as weather continues to warm, with the chance of storms increasing in October.

“We could see some warnings issued as we go into this afternoon and evening,” Hanniffy said.

The storms are expected to weaken later tonight, however the cloud will turn into a rain band that is expected to bring rain to parts of the southeast including Brisbane.

“Tomorrow, it should be a much weaker system and by that stage, as that breaks up, we could get another round of storms developing behind it in parts of the Darling Downs and Granite Belt into the afternoon and evening — and that could be a watch point,” Hanniffy said.

“Some of those (storms) could be severe as well, through the southeastern interior, and whether they move east in towards the Brisbane Metro area during tomorrow evening will be the watch point.”

Once the weather system moves through, temperatures are expected to drop from Saturday and Sunday and into next week, with some cool mornings, particularly in inland areas and in the South.