Surprise morning storms stun SE Queensland
An ominous line of thunderstorms rolled over southeast Queensland on Tuesday morning, with more storms likely to hit the state later today, some of which could be severe.
Winter and the morning are not typical times for thunderstorms to occur in southeast Queensland.
But this is exactly what happened earlier today.
June thunder over south east QLD. pic.twitter.com/st7p7r3Mns
— Andrew Miskelly (@andrewmiskelly) June 15, 2021
A region of cold upper-level air passing over Queensland’s Darling Downs and Granite Belt district overnight caused a few thunderstorms to develop shortly after midnight. By sunrise on Tuesday, a line of thunderstorms featuring frequent lightning was rushing towards southeast Queensland.
While storms had been forecast in Queensland on Tuesday, the early-morning thunder and lightning wasn’t picked up by some computer models, so it may have caught some locals by surprise.
Image: Not your typical view of the morning sky in southeast Queensland during winter. Source: @pennys.ph0t0graphy / Instagram
For anyone that wasn’t expecting a storm, the sight of a large shelf cloud sweeping in from the west would have been particularly astounding.
Image: Tuesday morning's storm passing over the Gold Coast. Source: @tatianasoppa / Instagram
There were 30,240 lightning strikes detected within a 150km radius of Brisbane between 6am and midday on Tuesday. Roughly 2,200 of these strikes reached the ground, while the rest occurred withing or between clouds.
Image: 30,240 lightning strikes detected within a 150 km radius of Brisbane between 6am and midday on Tuesday, June 15.
The instability that caused Tuesday morning’s storms is likely to produce more dangerous storms in parts of eastern Queensland later in the day. Thunderstorms are possible over most coastal and adjacent inland districts south of about Innisfail, with severe storms most likely in and around the Wide Bay and Burnett district and over the state’s central coastal districts.
Check the latest warnings for up-to-date information on severe storms in Queensland today.