A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the wind mass was a landspout, and while it was less ferocious than a tornado, it could still create havoc.

“In this case it is more of a landspout, which is rapidly developing but very brief,” he said.

“Landspouts are quite short-lived, in the order of 10 minutes, and it’s quite rare for one to last 20 minutes.

“They can be damaging, but they are localised and peter out very quickly in contrast to tornadoes.”

He said they formed when very moist air masses collided.

The phenomenon comes as more than 3000 properties are without power as storms sweep through the region.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning about 3.30pm for storm activity that could hit the Brisbane CBD by 3.55pm.

The bureau said severe thunderstorms were detected on the weather radar near Beenleigh, Archerfield and Woodridge, moving northeast.

They were forecast to affect Brisbane CBD, Cleveland and Peel Island by 3:55pm and Amity Point, Brisbane Airport and southern Moreton Island by 4:25pm.

The approaching storms come on top of well-above-average temperatures for Brisbane.

The temperature reached 35.7C at 1.21pm, almost 8C above the March average of 28.8C but still well below the record for the month, which was 37.9C in 2007.