Weather News

Warm and stormy night in Queensland

Ben Domensino, Friday July 7, 2017 - 12:36 AEST

It was a wet and warm night in parts of Queensland as a band of cloud drifted over the state, triggering storms in the south.

A low pressure trough stretching from the state's northwest to southeast produced the cloud, which acted like a blanket and helped trap warm air near the surface last night.

Julia Creek in the North West District registered a low of 21.4 degrees this morning, five above average and its warmest July minimum on record. Richmond's 19.6C minimum temperature this morning was its warmest for July in 24 years.

Along with night-time warmth, the cloud band also produced the heaviest rain since summer in some parts of the state.

During the 24 hours to 9am today, Winton (19mm) and Phosphate Hill (24mm) both received their heaviest rain since January. This was also Phosphate Hill's heaviest July rain in at least 17 years. Barcaldine's 10mm was half of its monthly average for July and the heaviest daily total since February.

Rain was accompanied by rumbles of thunder in southern Queensland last night and over the southeast this morning.

More than 500 lightning strikes were recorded within a 100km radius of Ipswich, although most of these occurred to the south of Brisbane. In total, there were close to 20,000 strikes over southern Queensland between midnight and 9am.

A series of upper-level troughs will continue to cause showers and possibly storms over parts of central and southern Queensland until at least Monday.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2017

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