A rare late-winter soaking has swept across outback QLD during the last 24 hours, with some places picking up their heaviest August rain in more than 100 years.
The animation below shows rain, thunderstorms and thick cloud spreading over QLD on Monday into Tuesday morning. This rain-bearing cloudband was caused by tropical moisture feeding into a broad low pressure trough.
Video: Composite satellite, radar and lightning strikes on Monday and Tuesday morning.
Widespread falls of 30 to 70 mm were recorded across outback QLD during the 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday, including 68.9mm at Winton, 64 mm at Muttaburra, 51.4 mm at Camooweal and 35.6 mm at Longreach.
This much rain is rare to see at this time of year.
For Longreach (35.6 mm), Muttaburra (64 mm) and Winton (68.9 mm), this was the wettest August day since 1947 and well in excess of their August monthly averages of 10.7 mm, 9.5 mm and 6.5 mm and respectively.
Further west, Camooweal’s 51.4mm was the site’s wettest August day since 1893 and close to 18 times its long-term August monthly average of 2.9 mm.
Unseasonably heavy rain will continue to spread further east across central inland QLD on Tuesday, before drier weather returns to most of the state on Wednesday.
Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 24 hours ending at 10pm AEST on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Another band of cloud and rain will spread across QLD on Thursday and Friday, bringing more wet weather to the state’s outback in the opening days of spring. For more information on Weatherzone’s rainfall forecasting and alerting, please contact us at apac.sales@dtn.com.
