Downpours add to extreme month

Courtney Stoeve (left), 14, and Brittney Kenyon, 16, battle the heavy rain on their way to school today.

David Nielsen

Related links

• SEQ receives severe weather warning

FORGET slip, slop, slap - Ipswich residents will have to splish, splosh, splash on Australia Day, with more heavy rain predicted for the region in coming days.

Until 9am Monday, only 23mm of rain had been recorded at the Amberley weather station for the month January.

But by Monday afternoon another 43mm had fallen and forecasters expected the rain to continue until at least Thursday afternoon.

By the time the system moves to the south, Ipswich is expected to have topped the average January rainfall of 113mm.

Goodna experienced flash flooding during the heaviest downfalls this morning, where close to 20mm fell in less than an hour.

Albert St and Smiths Rd were closed to traffic, with Lower James St and parts of Woogaroo St also affected by the downpour.

Meteorologist with private weather forecaster Weatherzone Alex Krisman said Ipswich was likely to escape the heaviest downfalls from the system which was delivering high rainfall totals to coastal regions.

"We expect the heavy rain to continue right from the Wide Bay region to the NSW north coast until late Thursday," Mr Krisman said.

"With Ipswich being a little bit inland falls will be a bit lighter than the coast.

"Residents can still expect to receive between 50 and 150mm over the next three days."

The rain system will also help to keep temperatures lower than average on Australia Day, with showers expected during the day and a maximum temperature of 28 degrees.

The wet weather comes in the same month Ipswich residents sweltered through a mini heatwave.

From January 8 to 11 Ipswich residents experienced temperatures averaging 37 degrees, with a stifling 40.6 degrees recorded on January 9.

Things look brighter for next week, with showers easing over the weekend and temperatures climbing above 30 degrees by Monday.

Wild weather

• Ipswich received less than 2mm of rain in the first half of January.
• A high of 40.6 degrees on January 9 was nearly 10 degrees over the long-term average.
• The varying conditions mean Ipswich will most likely finish, with average temperatures and rainfall for the month.