Weather News

Stormy fortnight in NSW and QLD

Rob Sharpe, Thursday October 23, 2014 - 14:24 AEDT

Thunderstorms are due to develop daily across New South Wales and Queensland for almost two weeks.

The storm season is firing up in NSW and QLD with widespread thunderstorms set to be a daily occurrence.

Today, a low pressure trough lying across NSW is producing plenty of storms and countless lightning strikes, particularly along the Great Dividing Ranges. Storms kicked off on the ranges very soon after lunch time and will even spread onto the plains and some coastal areas. Queensland should only get a few storms on the Gold Coast Hinterland, but there will be many more substantial QLD storm days to come.

Tomorrow, the trough will barely move an inch, making the storm region almost identical to today. The primary difference is that the mid-level winds, which control the movement of thunderstorms, will be stronger and more westerly. This means that more storms are likely to reach coastal areas.

Over the weekend the broad trough will spread more of its influence into QLD, with storms possible from the Southeast Coast to the Central West. NSW will again see plenty of storms, focussed in the east.

On Monday, the broad trough will intensify as a cold front crosses Victoria. The strengthening upper level winds bring a risk of damaging wind gusts near the main trough line, whilst storms will become much more prevalent in QLD.

From Tuesday and into the rest of next week the trough will continue to produce thunderstorms, although there will be more of a focus on Queensland. It looks like it will be quite a while before a high pressure ridge takes over NSW and QLD, eliminating the storm potential.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2014

Enter a postcode or town name for local weather, or text to search the site. » advanced search

Weather News

» all stories

Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro surf forecast

07:00 AEST After an emotional mid-year cut at the Margaret River Pro surf competition in Western Australia last week, surfers that fell below the cut line, along with up-and-coming talent, will be battling it out on the Gold Coast from this weekend onwards. The first stop on the Challenger Series (the lesser format of the Championship Tour) will take place along the Gold Coast’s premier surf point breaks, starting this morning and running to Saturday May 4th.