Large hailstones and strong winds are likely to hit south-east Queensland and the Darling Downs within the hour, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has warned.

A line of severe thunderstorms are moving east from Chinchilla and are forecast to hit the Dalby and Toowoomba council areas by 4:00pm.

BOM forecaster Jonty Hall said a cluster of "quite strong to severe storms" was developing near Dalby.

"Those storms are going to move very, very rapidly eastwards so that might seem like a fair way to the west, but they are moving at about 70 or even 80 kilometres per hour eastwards towards to coast," he said.

He said the storms had the potential to push into the Brisbane area a few hours later.

"Anywhere through the Brisbane area, it doesn't really matter if your northside or southside or out through the west, there is the potential there for all those places today," Mr Hall said.

General warnings have also been issued in Queensland for Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Ipswich and Caboolture.

Residents in Roma, Kingaroy, Stanthorpe, and Warwick have also been urged to prepare for wild weather by moving cars undercover, securing loose items, and seeking shelter indoors.

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BOM forecaster James Thompson said the fast-moving storms were unlikely to bring the big rainfall totals seen in recent weeks.

"Heavy rains are a lot less likely than say the damaging winds," he said.

"The [forecast of] heavy rain is really for one or two of those storms that just sit over an area for a little while."

Mr Thompson said south of Bundaberg and west to Roma should be on alert.

"It's a pretty good set up with quite a good surface trough moving into the region," he said.

"Probably the worst of it is east of Roma to Goondiwindi, across into the Brisbane region in the afternoon, and anywhere really south of Bundaberg.

"So one or two places might get 50-plus millimetres but mostly a lot less than that."

Meanwhile, the BOM has warned people in many New South Wales coastal areas to brace for thunderstorms with large hailstones and damaging winds this evening.

The BOM said 4-centimetre hailstones had already been seen in Coopernock on the mid-north coast.