Rain tipped to continue
IT’S been a wet half of the year for the Toowoomba area already, with weather experts predicting more rain to come for the region.
The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted a 60 per cent chance of rain to hit the region today, with a shower or two expected in the late morning and early afternoon.
A chance of a thunderstorm today is also possible with daytime temperatures expected to reach the low 20s.
For the remainder of the week and into the weekend, the chance of showers decreases to 30 per cent.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the year doesn’t look much drier across the usually sunny state.
Sky Meteorologist Tom Saunders said a “rare double” of climate drivers would ensure Queenslanders would get no reprieve from wet weather into winter and spring.
La Nina, which began more than 18 months ago, is likely to continue for its third consecutive year, with the event threatening the Sunshine State with above average rain into spring.
The cold weather event is accompanied by a Negative Indian Ocean Dipole, a separate event originating in the Indian Ocean, with both likely to impact weather across the country.
“Since 1960, we’ve only had five years with both a Negative Indian Ocean Dipole and a La Nina, so it’s a rare double,” Mr Saunders said.
“In the past, when we’ve had both of those climate drivers, it’s led to exceptionally wet years across Australia.”
Queensland will experience a minimum decile of seven compared to data from 2010.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s national manager for climate services Dr Karl Braganza said following two years of La Nina conditions, the rain fell on catchments that were already wet.
He said this caused water storages and river levels to rise, which meant catchments quickly became saturated and contributed to intense rainfall and flooding earlier this year.
“Extreme multi-day rainfall and significant flooding affected southeastern Queensland and eastern NSW, from 22 February to 9 March,” Dr Braganza said.
“The intense and sustained rainfall, coupled with saturated soils in catchments, caused major flooding across many catchments in southeastern Queensland and eastern New South Wales.”