Widespread storms bring heavy rain and large hail to QLD and NSW

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Severe rain and hailstorms have battered the east coast with the chance of more wet weather on the way for southeast Queensland this morning. Several warnings were issued for large parts of the state's southeast yesterday for damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall. Similar warnings were also in place for north-east New South Wales. Meanwhile western New South Wales is bracing for high fire danger today with total fire bans declared for the lower central west plains and central ranges. To talk through all the weekend weather senior meteorologist from the Bureau of Meteorology Angus Hines joins us.

Transcript

00:00Queensland and New South Wales saw significant, powerful and potentially dangerous thunderstorms

00:07yesterday caught up in this bigger band of wet weather which was swamping the north and

00:11east of the country.

00:13We saw some pockets of very heavy rainfall associated with these thunderstorms through

00:16the afternoon, evening and into the night last night.

00:19Some spots reporting about 80mm of rain within an hour.

00:23That is a very intense burst of wet weather, certainly did lead to some areas of flash

00:27flooding, it led to some river level rises in Queensland, I think a couple of people

00:32and cars got trapped in those rapidly rising rivers as well.

00:36Alongside not just the heavy rain, we also saw some giant hailstones about 6 or 7cm across

00:42on both sides of that Queensland and New South Wales border and a few damaging wind gusts

00:47were thrown in for good measure as well.

00:49It certainly was some fairly active, disruptive weather as those storms got going through

00:54the day yesterday.

00:55They lingered into the night as well, but after about midnight last night they did just

00:58settle down a little bit.

01:00Still some rain around for sure, but currently not quite as intense or heavy as what we were

01:05looking at yesterday afternoon.

01:06Well Angus, what does this then mean for flood warnings in affected areas?

01:10Well, the risk of more rain is present there today.

01:13We could see more wet weather across the north of New South Wales and much of central, eastern

01:18and southern Queensland today and caught up in this big band of rain.

01:22We're likely to see smaller pockets, smaller areas of thunderstorm and severe thunderstorm

01:27activity.

01:28So that means localised areas of quite heavy rain definitely on the cards again today.

01:32Now that heavy rain won't hit everyone, but the risk is quite extensive.

01:36So there is a chance that heavy rain could hit a number of different locations.

01:39And if that happens to be on the same spots that got heavy rain yesterday, which is absolutely

01:44possible, then the ground obviously from yesterday's rain is waterlogged.

01:48It's wet.

01:49So that rain today is going to hit the ground, it's not going to soak in.

01:52It's going to immediately start to run downhill and it's going to end up in the river network.

01:55And we could see some very rapid river level rises if that rain happens to fall in the

02:01same spots that it fell yesterday.

02:03So we've seen a few rivers already with moderate flood warnings in place.

02:06We certainly could see other rivers see some flooding today if that rain kicks in, particularly

02:11again after lunch.

02:12All right.

02:13Well, let's move away from the wet weather.

02:14I want to talk about this fire weather warning in parts of New South Wales.

02:20Yeah, quite different feel.

02:22Once you get to the western side of the Great Dividing Range, it's a really different weather

02:26situation for today.

02:28So most of the rain and storms on and east of the mountains, but to the west, it's much

02:33drier.

02:34It's also really quite windy out that way and temperatures, they're not sky high.

02:38It's not a scalding hot day, but at this time of year, even a fairly warm day is still

02:43giving us temperatures that are warm enough to lead to dangerous fire conditions.

02:48So we have got high to extreme fire danger due to that combination of windy

02:52weather, dry weather and warm enough weather across particularly western parts of New South

02:57Wales.

02:58So certainly be cautious with all things to do with fire.

03:01There are some total fire bans in play for some of those western districts on the western

03:05side of the ranges there.

03:06So obviously take heed from those as well.

03:10So really significant conditions on both sides of the mountains today.

03:14All right.

03:14Well, Angus, look into your crystal ball for us.

03:16Are we expecting some of this extreme weather to spill into the coming week?

03:20We're actually not really, at least not for a few days.

03:23So the wet and stormy weather across the east coast should clear almost everywhere by the

03:28very end of the day today.

03:29By about midnight tonight, we'll be seeing the tail end of that weather system.

03:33The only exception to that is the far north, so far north Queensland and the top of the

03:37Northern Territory.

03:38We'll be seeing rainstorms continuing into the new week.

03:42But across the rest of eastern Australia, it will really settle down by Monday morning.

03:46Quite a different feel to the weather on Monday.

03:48Generally bright, sunny and mild across much of Australia.

03:52So we'll see a good few dry days for those areas that have been affected by storms.

03:56Although, if you do live up in the far north, wet weather continuing and if you live way

04:00down in the south of Victoria, Tasmania, a cold and showery few days lie ahead.

04:05But in between those two, it's fairly calm for the outlook.

04:08All right, Agus, thank you so much for that update.

04:10A senior meteorologist there is Angus Hines.

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