Winter nears its end as temperatures begin to warm across Sunshine State

Light rain is expected along Queensland's eastern coastline across the weekend. The showers could develop into isolated thunderstorms, particularly around the Gold and Sunshine Coasts on Sunday. What's next? Above-average temperatures are set to warm up Queenslanders as spring draws closer. Rain will pepper the east coast of Queensland across the weekend with warmer-than-usual temperatures as winter nears its end. Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Felim Hanniffy said a weakening trough would deliver scattered falls to some areas. "The system will spread plenty of cloud across parts of the southern interior … before drifting over south-east Queensland," he said. The weekend showers are expected to be fairly light and unlikely to do much for areas of southern Queensland suffering drought, but may gain some reprieve with forecast falls in the following week. Mr Hanniffy said the Gold Coast and border ranges carried a chance of thunderstorms during the latter part of the weekend. "We couldn't rule out the chance of an isolated storm," he said. While falls in the south-east were expected to be fairly light, they will be slightly heavier further north. "[Areas surrounding] the north tropical coast and cassowary coast could see localised rainfall of 10 to 20 millimetres," Mr Hanniffy said. "[It could be similar] across parts of the interior of Queensland." As the rainfall eases, lighter winds could deliver patchy early-morning fog, particularly around eastern areas, the forecaster said. Spring temperatures to start early While there is still a week left of winter, you might get away with packing away the bed socks and flannel sheets as the state begins to warm up again. A second weather system through next week would likely see temperatures pushing well above the average, Mr Hanniffy said. "It certainly won't feel like winter," he said. "Particularly later this weekend and into next week and for the southern half of the state, those temperatures really ramp up. "In the west, we'll see the temperature hit mid-30s … by the middle of next week, mid-to-high 20s are possible around the south-east."