A large chunk of Queensland has been told to brace for a potentially wild weekend of weather.

A band of severe thunderstorms swept across south-east Queensland tonight and the Bureau of Meteorology warned it was just the beginning.

Friday's storms first struck the Darling Downs, west of Brisbane, in the afternoon and slowly tracked towards the Gold Coast.

"We've really copped it down here on the Gold Coast," 9News Queensland weather expert Luke Bradnam said at 6pm (7pm AEDT).

"Right now it is the city and the northern suburbs seeing the fiercest part of this storm."

The storms were tracking north-east towards the Sunshine Coast.

Some of the biggest rainfall was at Mitchelton, in Brisbane's north, where 48 millimetres fell in just 30 minutes to 6.20pm, and at Wallumbilla, more than 40

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