Huge cloudband dumps a month’s worth of rain in a day

Brisbane’s unseasonal bleak weather is set to continue on Tuesday, after a unique cloudband dumped more than a month’s worth of rain on the city in 24 hours, causing woes on the city’s train lines and roads.

An umbrella will be a necessary accessory again on Tuesday, as the large north-west cloudband, which stretches from the Kimberley in WA all the way to south-east Queensland and further into the Tasman Sea, collides with a coastal trough.

“This is an impressive weather system, and it is relatively unseasonable,” Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Harry Clarke said.

The average May rainfall for Brisbane is about 69 millimetres. Brisbane received 74 millimetres of rain between midnight on Sunday and 4pm on Monday.

“The last time we had rain like this in May was back in 2023, with 70 millimetres,” Clarke said.

However, the May record was set in 2015 when an east coast low brought intense rainfall, high winds and catastrophic flash flooding to the city. That month, Brisbane recorded 182 millimetres of rain.

Monday’s downpour caused minor flash flooding that sparked a signalling fault on the Cleveland, Beenleigh and Gold Coast train lines, and impacted more than 30 roads, including the Bruce Highway at Griffin and the Margaret Street off-ramp in the CBD.

By the afternoon, most suburbs had received between 20 and 40 millimetres of rain.

Heavier falls were recorded at Burbank (61 millimetres), Chandler (45 millimetres), Aspley (46 millimetres) and Deagon (51 millimetres).

Brisbane City Council has opened sandbagging stations in Darra, Lota, Morningside, Newmarket and Zillmere.

Redland City Council also opened sandbagging stations in Thorneside, Cleveland and Redland Bay after more than 64 millimetres of rain fell in Alexandra Hills. Sandbagging stations were also opened on the bay islands.

Clarke said Brisbane’s weather would remain bleak until Tuesday afternoon, before the low moves offshore.

“There are, particularly towards the Gold Coast hinterland, higher falls than that expected … picking up 50 or maybe even 100 millimetres by the time this event is all said and done tomorrow,” he said.

“It’s not flooding rain, more moderate, but certainly the heaviest rain we’ve had in a while.”

Warm doonas and bed socks will be more useful from the middle of the week, as the skies clear and the insulating effect of the blanket cloud cover is lost.

Overnight temperatures are due to plummet from Tuesday, the weather bureau predicts, as the cloud currently sitting over Brisbane dissipates.

Clarke said the cloud cover had an insulating effect at night, keeping overnight temperatures relatively warm.

“Once this system clears off Tuesday evening and into Wednesday we’ll get a burst of cooler, drier south-westerly winds behind it, so we’ll see a return to mostly sunny conditions,” he said.

But nighttime temperatures could dip into the single digits.

Over the weekend, fans gathered for the NRL’s Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium dodged “hit-and-miss” showers.

Fortunately, a downpour predicted for Sunday did not arrive until late in the evening.

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