NSW at Risk of Bushfires This Summer While Australia’s East Coast Experiences Hail and Heavy Rainfall

The first tropical storm of the season has hit parts of Australia's east coast, according to officials.

The front, which covered 260 kilometers of southeast Queensland, caused flash flooding in a few Gold Coast suburbs.

Just before midnight on Monday, a storm warning for large hail, damaging winds, and heavy rainfall for some areas, including the Tropical Coast and Tablelands and Wide Bay Burnett, was canceled.

Large hail and heavy rainfall hit Australia's east coast

(Photo : Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A trough and cold front that caused the unstable weather are also lowering temperatures and bringing on thunder and lightning, as per 9 News.

The Bureau of Meteorology had earlier on Monday issued a warning for severe storms in Queensland.

From Bamaga in Cape York all the way to the Gold Coast, the forecast ranged.

The bureau stated that storms "will continue to threaten for much of this week."

Jonathan How, a senior meteorologist, advised locals to heed warnings during what could be a rainy week.

Through the course of the week, eastern Queensland will experience an increase in rainfall, he predicted.

"Starting tomorrow, we'll see an increase in showers and storms, mostly north of Rockhampton.

The wettest days of the week will be Wednesday and Thursday, with daily rainfall totals of 50 to 100 mm moving toward the Sunshine Coast.

On Thursday, there will be some rain in Brisbane as well, but the majority of it will fall in Central Queensland, where there may be rain and flash flooding.

We're reminding Queensland residents to pay attention to warnings during the upcoming week of heavy rains.

Flooding rain warnings coincide with storms "flare up" in Victoria and NSW.

According to Weatherzone, they could develop into severe storms in the afternoon and are likely to move further north and east as the afternoon goes on.

The Sydney area is likely to experience isolated thunderstorms starting this afternoon, with thunderstorm activity possibly reaching as far west as Hillston in the NSW Riverina and the Central Slopes and Tablelands.

There is still a chance that thunderstorms will develop into severe ones again in the late afternoon and early evening, especially in the Central West and Tablelands. If this happens, damaging wind gusts and large hail may be possible.

Significant storms yesterday were produced over western Victoria and South Australia by the same cold front and trough.

In the late afternoon, fast-moving storms also brought lightning and powerful gusts to a large portion of Sydney and the Illawarra.

Read more: UK Weather: August Bank Holiday Will Be Expected With Heavy Rain While 26C Heatwave Returns Next Week

Elevated risk of bushfires this summer

The areas of Australia at higher risk of bushfires this summer have been identified by a new map, with flood-ravaged parts of NSW likely to be the hardest hit, as per News.com.au.

The risk of grassfires has increased for inland and western NSW as a result of a year of heavy rains and significant flood events.

The seasonal bushfire outlook and a map showing areas with higher bushfire risk were both released on Tuesday by the Australian and New Zealand National Council for Fire and Emergency Services (AFAC).

This is creating a variety of fire potential for the summer, especially when combined with later in the season's anticipated warmer and drier conditions.

A higher risk of bushfires is predicted for large portions of NSW, southwestern Queensland, Central Australia, as well as Tasmania and Western Australia.

The majority of NSW experienced persistently above-average rainfall during the spring, which led to extremely high soil moisture and flooding in many areas, according to the report.

The already high fuel loads will be increased further as a result of these moist conditions.

While early summer fire activity in flood-affected areas is anticipated to remain below normal, this is anticipated to change later in the year.

However, the report noted that with an anticipated return to more typical rainfall conditions over the summer, these grass fuels are likely to cure and grow more flammable.

Related article: Heatwave to Hit the UK in April and Climate Change is to Blame: Met Office Forecast