Grim warning as rain, hail to pelt east coast
Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms are set to pelt parts of eastern Australia throughout the week, just after fire ravaged parts of the country.
Wet weather is expected to hit south eastern Queensland and northern NSW on Monday afternoon with conditions likely to persist for the next seven days.
Sky News meteorologist Rob Sharpe said fires had been discussed “endlessly” over the past couple of months, but rain was on its way to those affected areas.
“We’re seeing the rain over the eastern inland regions, many of which are in drought or heading into drought,” Mr Sharpe said.
“We’ve been talking about the fires almost endlessly for months now and so rain is heading to those areas as well.”
Bureau of Meteorology senior metrologist Angus Hines said greater parts of northern and eastern Australia were in store for a “pretty wet week” and severe storms were more than likely.
“Over the next seven days we hold on to very stormy weather with broad outbreaks and stormy conditions through the north and east of Australia,” Mr Hines said.
He said 100 millimetres of rain is forecast to touch down in central-southern Queensland and northern NSW on Monday afternoon.
While stormy conditions are not unusual for this time of year, Mr Hines said those conditions only usually only persist for a couple of days.
“Basically the entirety of the week ahead each day is going to be bringing regions of showers and thunderstorms through the east and north of the country,” he said.
Within these regions, pockets of localised heavy rain is forecast, with some areas likely to see more than 200 millimetres of rain.
Mr Hines said the severe thunderstorms expected this week will include heavy rainfall, damaging wind gusts as well as sizeable hail.
“We are certainly looking at some hail, which could be large hail for southern parts of Queensland,” he said.
Looking ahead to December and Christmas, long-range forecasts still predict hot and dry conditions across the country as a result of El Nino dominating the Pacific Ocean area.
“We are likely to have some pretty warm spots on Christmas Day,” he said.
Forecasts suggest rainfall will be limited for Tasmania, Victoria, southern South Australia and north east Queensland throughout December.