Isolated showers expected to return to parts of Queensland this weekend

Settled, clear and cool conditions will continue into Queensland’s first weekend of winter, with showers brewing from late Sunday.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) community information officer Daniel Hayes said a high-pressure system moving across South Australia was behind the change in conditions forecast for the sunshine state.

“It’s expected to push across New South Wales throughout Sunday and, as it does so, we start to see a bit of a shift in our winds to a more south-easterly regime,” Mr Hayes said.

“It means by the end of the weekend, we’re starting to see a bit of cloud come in and some showers around the coast.”

Light, scattered showers of 1–5 millimetres are forecast about the south-east coastal fringe to K’gari, as well as the northern Cape York Peninsula.

But into the middle of next week, east to south-easterly winds will push in moisture from warm Coral Sea waters, resulting in rainfall totals up to 15mm around parts of Brisbane, the Gold and Sunshine coasts, and further northern tropical coasts.

BOM said the crisp morning temperatures would remain until the cloud cover along the coast arrived.

“A lot of centres [are] quite a few degrees below average for Saturday and into Sunday, [with] the potential for a little bit of frost across southern inland parts,” Mr Hayes said.

“The maximum temperatures only by a few degrees, but people will notice the minimum temperatures will be a few degrees, anywhere from 5 to 9 degrees, warmer through the mid-week period … as opposed to what we’ve been seeing.”

Mr Hayes said it would take longer for Queensland’s interior to see a change.

“While we do see all that stuff along the coast, inland areas will stay clear and sunny and relatively cool for a few more days yet.”