A complex monsoonal low pressure system continues to bring heavy rain to parts of the interior and coast of North Queensland.

Numerous flood warnings are in place, and a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall which may lead to flash flooding is in place for the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands and Herbert and Lower Burdekin forecast districts.

This essentially applies to coastal areas and the nearby ranges on the stretch of Queensland coastline that runs between the cities of Cairns and Townsville.

In the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday, Queensland's heaviest rainfall total was 362.4mm at Cowley Beach, about 90 minutes south of Cairns.

A further half hour down the coast, the small town of South Mission Beach received 312mm, followed by an additional 50mm between 9am and 1pm.

Combined with 369mm the previous day, 115mm the day before that, and a few days of lighter falls beforehand, South Mission Beach has now exceeded 850mm for this event. Rainfall totals exceeding one metre (1000mm) now appear likely.

You can see the active low pressure system and its associated rainfall in the eight-hour loop below, which shows both the rain radar and satellite imagery on Tuesday, December 30.

Image: Eight-hour combined satellite and radar loop for North Queensland on Tuesday, December 30, 2025.

While, as mentioned above, the heaviest falls have been on the coastal strip and adjacent ranges, exceptionally heavy rain has fallen in Queensland’s interior too.

To 9am Tuesday, 24-hour rainfall totals included:

• 217mm at Gilliat River (North West forecast district, close to the border of the Gulf Country forecast district)
• 197mm at Snake Creek near Cloncurry (North West forecast district)
• 126mm at Frog Creek (Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders forecast district)

As mentioned in our story on Monday, many locations in outback Queensland have broken daily rainfall records for December – a month when intense wet spells often occur, albeit not with the same historical frequency as January or February.

Many monthly records for December have also now been broken. For example, Cloncurry Airport had received 455.4mm to 9am on December 30. The old December monthly record was 346.8mm, in almost 50 years of data going back to 1978.

Rainfall is set to continue in most of the areas mentioned for at least another day. Unfortunately, significant stock losses are likely in some of North Queensland’s prime cattle country.

Please keep up to date with the latest warnings on the Weatherzone warnings page.