Heavy rain will batter large parts of Australia for an entire week, with flash flooding, giant hail, and thunderstorms forecast as La Niña sets in.
La Niña – a climate driver that typically causes above-average rain – failed to deliver intense showers across the country in November, but the tap is about to turn on for huge swathes of the country.
The weather phenomenon has gained strength in the Pacific Ocean during the last couple of weeks and the influences that were shielding Australia from its impacts last month have weakened, the weather bureau warned.
Parts of WA, Queensland and NSW could see more than 100mm of rain in some areas over the next week.
While La Niña – a climate driver that typically causes above-average rain – failed to deliver intense showers across the country in November, the tap is about to turn on for huge swathes of Australia
Residents on Bribie Island north of Brisbane experienced golf ball-sized hail stones and gusts of wind over 100kph, while some 26,000 homes were left without power
A tropical low in waters off the western Kimberley coast in WA will move slowly towards the southeast on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A second low off of Christmas Island will move southeast towards the Pilbara coast over the next few days.
The state’s north and central areas are set to receive 30-50mm of rain over the week, but Perth will stay mostly dry.
Residents on Bribie Island north of Brisbane saw golf ball-sized hail stones and gusts of wind over 100kph, while some 26,000 homes were left without power.
Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour in NSW are forecast to receive 15-25mm of rain, while northern and central parts of the state will get between 5-10mm.
Amid the deluge, snow has fallen in the NSW alpine regions such as Perisher, where temperatures dropped to about 5C below average.
A woman’s car was destroyed by hailstones as a supercell storm ripped through south-east Queensland on Tuesday
As of 11am on Tuesday, a severe weather warning, flood watch and flood warnings were already in place for parts of Western Australia.
Meanwhile, 13 students and two teachers were taken to hospital after lightning struck the grounds of their school.
Paramedics were called to Clinton State School in Gladstone, Central Queensland, at about 1:30pm on Tuesday.
The Queensland Ambulance Service said a lightning bolt struck either the ground or a building near the school oval.
A woman’s car was destroyed by hailstones as a supercell storm ripped through southeast Queensland on Tuesday.
Author T.M. Clark was behind the driver’s wheel on Bribie Island Road in Ningi when the weather event hit just before 3pm on Monday afternoon.
The hail lashed the front of the new Camry, causing the right side of the window to crack.
‘I thought it was just another storm to be honest. We get so many big storms coming through,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I didn’t realise until I saw the hail.’
Ms Clark jumped into the backseat with her son as the storm rolled on, fearful the window would completely fall apart.
Residents recorded footage of their cubby houses and trampolines being bowled over or flown into neighbouring properties
Lightning seen over Bribie Island, north of Brisbane, on Monday afternoon as the storm rolled in
‘I thought it was going to come through, there were shards of glass,’ she said.
‘I wasn’t sure the windscreen would hold.’
Ms Clark said the hail was about the size of a golf ball and the car was hammered for about two minutes before it eased.
The Bureau of Meteorology earlier warned of severe storms bringing damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain to the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Caloundra, Gympie, Noosa and Dalby on Monday afternoon.
The bureau said residents at Woodford, north-west of Brisbane, reported three-centimetre hailstones.
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