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Brisbane weather: Thunder and lightning as storms light up south-east Queensland

Jorge Branco
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There could be some tired south-east Queenslanders on Wednesday if the online reaction to a furious thunder and lightning show in the early hours of the morning is any guide.

Social media lit up with reports, and vehement complaints, of people woken up by the spectacular weather as it cracked over Brisbane between about 2am and 3am.

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Morning thunderstorms 'unusual'

Spectacular lightning storms hit south east Queensland early on Tuesday morning but they bring very little rain. 7 News Queensland

Almost 10,000 lightning strikes turned night into day and about 7000 homes and businesses lost power throughout the night, according to Energex.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sam Campbell said the storm was "quite lightning active" but didn't bring much rain or wind.

It wasn't even strong enough trigger a severe thunderstorm warning, he said.

A light show hit the Gold Coast about midnight, the second overnight storm for the region in as many days.

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One embarrassed hiker told of his relief after being found safe after spending the night in the bush on the Gold Coast.

Terry Brown, 68, got lost while hiking on the Mt Cougal track in the Tallebudgera track on Tuesday but was found by SES volunteers on Wednesday.

"Bit embarrassing, scary, but thank goodness everything turned out alright," Mr Brown told the Nine Network, having spent the night in the wilderness as a storm that featured almost 40,000 lightning strikes hit southeast Queensland.

Another band of storms soon sprung up around Toowoomba and Ipswich, making their way to the coast between about 2am and 3am.

"It was a very lightning active storm. It was quite loud and I can understand that it would have woken people up but in terms of intensity of the storms, no they weren't particularly intense," Mr Campbell said.

"They weren't severe certainly. We were watching the storms very carefully."

Most areas only picked up about 2-10 millimetres but some southern parts of Brisbane saw as many as 30 millimetres in the rain gauge.

The overnight weather was a boon for storm chasers and photographers but others weren't so sure.

The south-east is in for a hot and humid day to follow, with 32 in Brisbane, one degree cooler on the Sunshine Coast and in Toowoomba but just 27 for for the Gold Coast. Ipswich is heading for a top of 35.

Mr Campbell said there was a high chance of showers throughout the region, with a high chance of storms, possibly severe, in the afternoon.

He said the overnight storms were driven by unstable conditions persisting long into the evening.

- with AAP

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