Prosper in a dynamic world
Search

Waterspouts and 250 mm of rain in southeast Queensland

Heavy rain and thunderstorms soaked parts of southeast Qld on Monday into Tuesday morning, with the unstable weather even causing a waterspout in Moreton Bay.

Moisture-laden easterly surface winds feeding into a colder pool of air aloft caused ideal conditions for storms in southeast Qld on Monday.

While a few storms developed late on Monday morning, things really took off in the afternoon as warmer air near the ground added extra energy to the atmosphere.

By 1pm AEST on Monday, storms were stretching around 300 km across southeast Qld. One of the early-afternoon storm cells produced an impressive waterspout over Moreton Bay to the northeast of Brisbane.

Video: Waterspout spotted over Moreton Bay on Monday, March 4, 2024. Source: @toniempringham / Instagram

The rain and storms continued into Monday afternoon and evening, with multiple slow-moving thunderstorms forming to the west of the Sunshine Coast.

This barrage of storms produced more than 200 mm of rain over parts of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. During the 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday, 255 mm was recorded at Poona Dam, 225 mm at West Woombye and 205 mm at Eerwah Vale.

Total Lightning Network detected around 296,000 lightning strikes within 300 km of Brisbane during the 24 hours ending at 9am on Tuesday.

Waterspouts and 250 mm of rain in southeast Queensland

Image: Thunderstorms over southeast Qld on Monday afternoon.

There may be a few more showers and thunderstorms over northern, central and southeast Qld on Tuesday, although storms are not likely to be as intense as they were on Monday for the state’s southeast.

To find out more about our marine services, please email us at apac.sales@dtn.com.

Latest news

Satisfy your weather obsession with these news headlines from around the nation, and the world.

Giant hail and intense thunderstorms leaves 161,000 customers without power across southeast Queensland

Over 75,000 customers across southeast Queensland remain without power on Tuesday, after a peak of around 161,000 following the relatively brief, but intense severe thunderstorms complex that crossed the region on Monday afternoon. Damage to power utility networks and rescue efforts for residents was worse than those inflicted by Cyclone Alfred in March for some […]

How a tropical cyclone near Darwin causes energy demand to soar in NSW and Queensland

The downstream influence of Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina caused intense inland heat to build and be drawn into eastern Australia, causing energy demand to soar in NSW and Queensland. Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina crossed the northeast Kimberley coast in WA late on Monday, November 24, 2025, but downstream influences from the system will be felt […]

Tropical Cyclone Fina to pass near Darwin this weekend – possible disruptions to key industries

Tropical Cyclone Fina has turned towards the Northern Territory coast and is expected to make landfall over the Top End on Friday, November 21, 2025. The system could then regain strength over the warm Van Diemen Gulf, before passing close to Darwin on the weekend. The last tropical cyclone to directly impact Darwin was Tropical […]

High tropical cyclone risk near northern Australia this week

A tropical low currently developing over the Timor Sea has a high chance of becoming a tropical cyclone later this week, with a possibility of landfall somewhere in the Northern Territory or Western Australia. Key industries could be impacted including Ports, Mining, Transport, and Agriculture. The satellite images below show cloud circulating around the developing […]