Thunderstorms and damaging wind gusts of up to 80km/h are set to impact South East Queensland today as a 5000km weather system sweeps across Australia.

Satellite images show a large northwest cloudband sweeping across the country, labelled an “atmospheric river” by Weatherzone.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a strong wind warning this morning for the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, and Gold Coast waters, with offshore gusts expected to reach 60km/h by the early afternoon.

Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Helen Reid warned that the worst of the weather could hit around midday.

“Today is going to be the interesting day of the week. For the Brisbane region, we can expect it to be rather windy, a northerly breeze to hold your hats on,” Ms Reid said.

“It’s possible even from around lunchtime into the early afternoon period. It does depend on the timing of that frontal line to actually come through and really help lift the atmosphere into forming thunderstorms.”

Brisbane could see significant wind gusts by midday Monday. Animation via Windy

While general winds will range between 25-35km/h, Ms Reid warned isolated storms could bring much harsher conditions.

“Among all that, there will be the potential for some higher wind gusts, 40-50km/h is quite likely. If you get a thunderstorm, you could expect much higher numbers, like 70-80km/h,” she said.

Showers could deliver between 5-10mm of rain, while temperatures should peak at 25C in Brisbane.

Satellite images captured a large northwest cloudband developing over Australia on Friday.

The system hit South Australia over the weekend, with flash flooding and more than 180 flood-related calls for help from SES by Sunday afternoon.

For Brisbane, conditions are expected to ease by Monday evening, clearing to a fresh westerly breeze on Tuesday with a top of 25C.

“There is the potential with another system coming through on Wednesday to have a predominantly sunny day, but maybe the hint of a shower later in the day, and not quite so windy,” Ms Reid said.

“Thursday and Friday are looking like there’s not much of a breeze at all, and still sunny on Thursday, maybe a couple of clouds on Friday, but not looking at anything as active as Monday.

“On the weekend we will get some rainfall creeping in, just showers during the course of Saturday and Sunday, and it’ll be a south-easterly breeze, so not quite the traditional westerly Ekka winds.”