Australian Weather

20 Feb 2026, 12:49AM UTC

Large parts of Queensland and New South Wales face the risk of slow-moving thunderstorms over the next couple of days, with the potential for localised flash flooding in many areas. When we think of thunderstorms, we tend to think of them rushing rapidly across the landscape, either as individual cells or as part of a squall line. Such storms usually dissipate within an hour or less, and wild wind gusts are part of the package. Slow-moving thunderstorms pose a different kind of danger. While damaging winds can still occur in slow-moving storms, the biggest danger tends to be from prolonged bursts of intense rainfall, as storms effectively park themselves over a location for an extended period. That’s the risk for parts of NSW and Queensland this Friday and into the weekend. Why are the current storms so slow-moving? Image: Four-hour radar loop showing relatively slow-moving storms within a 1000km radius of Townsville, Qld, on the morning of February 20, 2026. In order for thunderstorms to form, you need three key elements: Low-level atmospheric moisture is one requirement. You also need instability (where a parcel of warm air rises through cooler air). Thirdly, you need a mechanism to lift air. Sometimes the trigger mechanism that forces air to rise is the strong wind associated with frontal systems. Sometimes it’s topography (like a mountain range which forces air to rise). And sometimes it’s a low pressure trough, where air that has flowed in from surrounding areas of higher-pressure areas is forced upward because it has nowhere else to go. Areas of low pressure with numerous near-stationary troughs are the dominant broad-scale weather features over Australia this Friday. With such a pattern, storms tend to be slow-moving due to a lack of strong steering winds. Heavy Qld rainfall totals under slow-moving storms In the 24 hous to 9am Friday, numerous Queensland locations saw more than 100mm of rainfall. They included: 142mm at Upper Finch Hatton Creek, just west of Mackay 135mm at Alligator Creek, 25km southeast of the Townsville CBD 112mm at Coolagh, near Longreach, a huge total for a location closer to the NT border than the east coast It’s also worth noting that accumulations of 40mm per hour were recorded in relatively slow-moving storms just west of Townsville, while Townsville itself saw more than 50mm in just two hours between 6:30am and 8:30am. That’s the sort of downpour which can cause localised flooding. Queensland is currently experiencing widespread riverine flooding in the state’s west, after recent heavy rainfall events. Numerous warnings are in place. For the latest thunderstorm information for your area, keep checking the Weatherzone warnings page, especially during the afternoon and evening.

19 Feb 2026, 6:32AM UTC

Central parts of Queensland, from the Northern Territory border to the coastline, are experiencing a late afternoon sky show this Thursday, with storms and lightning strikes stretching across the state. At 3:48pm (AEST), the BoM issued a severe thunderstorm warning for heavy rainfall for parts of the Central Coast and Whitsundays, Central Highlands and Coalfields, and Capricornia Forecast Districts. The BoM warned that slow-moving thunderstorms could produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include Moranbah, Eungella and Nebo. While the most severe late afternoon storms appear to be in eastern parts of the state, storms have been highly active out west too during Thursday. Image: Four-hour radar loop in central Qld on the afternoon of Thursday, February 19, 2026. You can see the storms developing in the radar loop above, which shows the period from 12:15pm to 4:15pm (AEST). The pink blobs indicate areas where lightning is present. One feature which is clearly visible on the radar loop is the storm that dumped 34mm of rain on Boulia, a tiny far western Qld town of 300 people about halfway between Mt Isa and Birdsville. That was more rain in a few hours than the town’s entire monthly average for February of 27.2mm. What’s causing the widespread storms? A persistent, near-stationary trough over central Queensland and the eastern NT is causing moist, warm air to rise into a relatively unstable layer of air, producing storms. While moisture is being provided by a consistent if relatively languid feed of tropical air from the east, the moist landscape is also playing its part, having been saturated in recent weeks. The image below shows rainfall totals across Australia over the past week. Image: Weekly rainfall totals for Australia for the week ending 9am this Thursday, February 19. Source: BoM. As you can see, most of Queensland has had a good recent soaking, including all of the areas where storms are forming this Thursday. Stormy days are set to persist into Friday and the weekend for much of Queensland.