INLAND areas are expected to benefit from isolated rainfall as ex-cyclone Penny meanders up the north Queensland coast.
The weather system was on Wednesday slightly east of Bowen and was tracking slowly to the north, with areas to the south of the system experiencing the heaviest rain.
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Gordon Banks said the system was quite weak and gale force winds had not been recorded, through it was bringing heavy rain in some areas.
”As the low moves north and eventually wanders inland we will see the heavy rain along the coast move north as well,” Mr Banks said.
“It is a bit patchy, with totals over 100mm in some areas and others within a relatively close distance receiving only light showers.”
Mr Banks said falls of about 190mm had been recorded around Mackay, Proserpine and Airlie Beach, with Preston, east of Proserpine recording 167mm in six hours on Tuesday.
“Certainly we have seen heavy showers pushing into Clermont and Moranbah, as it moves north we’d expect the heavier falls to push inland to Charters Towers and a bit further west,” he said.
“There could be some useful rainfall for the graziers and farmers out there.”
Mr Banks said the low was expected to bring heavier showers to Townsville on Thursday before moving inland south of the Cassowary Coast region on Friday or Saturday.
Heavy showers are also expected in the Innisfail region and the Cape York Peninsula moving into the weekend.
Cyclone Penny first formed in the Gulf of Carpentaria on New Year’s Day, crossing the coast near Weipa as a category one storm that afternoon.
It then moved across the Cape York Peninsula into the Coral Sea where it reformed into a cyclone on January 2.
She continued to build strength into a category two storm before tracking back toward the coast and being downgraded to a low.
A warning for damaging wind peak gusts around 90 kilometres over the Whitsunday Islands on Monday night has since been cancelled.
Flood warnings were in place for catchments between Gladstone and Cape Tribulation extending inland over parts of the Central Highlands and Coalfields.