Large parts of Queensland will cop more rainfall over the coming days as experts warn there will be little reprieve from the wet conditions in winter.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) meteorologist Shane Kennedy said thunderstorms are forecast for much of eastern and southern Queensland today.
"Looking mostly likely to districts south of Townsville, less likely to see any in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast," Mr Kennedy said.
"The Sunshine Coast could potentially see a storm or two, and there's just a slight chance you could see severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in the southern interior, so that's mainly around St George.
"In terms of rainfall, expect it to still be fairly light overall and fairly coastal for the most part where we could see some falls in the 5-to-20-millimetre range and potentially some isolated falls of 20 to 40 millimetres including in the southern interior zone if we see any severe thunderstorms there.
"On Friday, expecting those showers to really just to contract to the south-eastern coastal fringe and becoming a bit more sunny after that."
The wet weather is expected to clear over the weekend, giving way to crisp conditions early next week.
"There is a chance we could see the first cold and dry snap of the season on Tuesday next week," Mr Kennedy said.
"At this stage looks like we could see some pretty windy, westerly winds moving into the south-east of the state and there is a chance you could potentially see some frost though it may be a little bit too windy for that."
Potentially record-breaking wet winter
Mr Kennedy said the majority of Queensland, particularly central and southern, were likely to see above average rainfall over winter.
"We generally see the rainfall dropping down quite a bit typically for central and northern Queensland during the dry season," he said.
"That doesn't necessarily mean that we'll see a lot of rainfall at this stage but looking at the outlook there's a 50 per cent chance of seeing 100 millimetres or more for much of eastern Queensland and south of Townsville during the next three months, so getting up to more than 200-to-300-millimetre range over those three months potentially.
"There is a chance there could be some records broken if we see a severe or extreme weather event but at this stage just looks to be slightly above average."
Mr Kennedy stressed it was unlikely Queensland would see severe flooding throughout winter, given the amount of rainfall was likely to be far lower than what was seen earlier this year.
However, he said increased rainfall could cause problems for authorities trying to carry out controlled burns ahead of the summer months.
Climate change increases chances of future floods
A special report from the BOM released on Wednesday linked climate change to higher-than-average rainfall.
"As the climate warms, heavy rainfall events are expected to continue to become more intense," the report said.
"A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour than a cooler atmosphere, and this relationship alone can increase moisture in the atmosphere by 7 per cent per 1 degree Celsius of global warming.
"This can cause an increased likelihood of heavy rainfall events. Increased atmospheric moisture can also provide more energy for some processes that generate extreme rainfall events, which further increases the likelihood of heavy rainfall."
The report noted rainfall totals for the week ending March 1 in parts of south-eastern Queensland were more than 70 per cent of the average annual rainfall total.
Some areas of south-eastern Queensland had their highest flood peaks since 1893, though the lower Brisbane and Bremer rivers and Lockyer Creek peaked below the levels of both January 1974 and January 2011 floods.
