A low pressure trough triggered severe thunderstorms on Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, bringing exceptional heavy rain, damaging wind gusts and large hail to parts of southeast Queensland, including Brisbane. 

Storms sparked to life during the mid-afternoon and become more widespread over the region during late afternoon, triggering the release of Severe Thunderstorm Warnings.  

One of the more severe storms passed over Brisbane Airport during the early evening. As the storm roared overhead it brought wind gusts of up to 100km/hr and nearly 20mm of rain. Although this rainfall total isn’t particularly high, 17.6mm of it fell in the space of just 10 minutes. The storm also drew much colder air from the upper atmosphere down to the surface, dropping the temperature more than six degrees in five minutes.  

Image: Observations at Brisbane Airport as a severe storm moved over. The graphs show an abrupt drop in temperature (red line), heavy rain accumulating quickly (green bars) and damaging wind gusts (grey line). Source: Weatherzone.

The Inner Beacon at Cape Morton had the highest wind gust associated with these storms at 107km/h. 

Impressive 10 minute rainfall rates were recorded elsewhere in southeast Queensland as well, including 13.8mm at Redcliffe and 12.2mm at Maryborough.  

On top of the wind and rain, widespread hail of 3-4cm diameter was reported across the western and northern suburbs of Brisbane. 

Storms reignited in the small hours of Sunday morning, bringing further heavy rain, including the below 10 minute totals:

• Redland – 7.6mm 
• Beerburrum – 6.2mm 
• Cape Morton – 5mm 

The low pressure trough responsible for the wild weather has now moved offshore, allowing storms to clear, warnings to be cancelled, and shifting the risk of severe storms further north.