The Bureau of Meteorology says Tuesday's storm in Bloomsbury and Yalboroo, north of Mackay in North Queensland, may have created the largest hailstones seen in Australia since records began.
"We've seen some convincing images of hail up against a tape measure of 16cm," Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Shane Kennedy said.
"The Australian record was sitting around the 14cm mark.
"Hail that size has a terminal velocity of well over 100km an hour."
Proserpine resident Christopher Harvey was driving to Mackay when rain falling on his car began to sound heavier.
"I pulled up and realised how big it was. I could see the driver in front of me had a windscreen already damaged," he said.
"Even an hour later it's still larger than my hand."
Mr Harvey said living in the tropics he had never seen hail that size and was worried it could have caused serious harm.
"Humans, livestock, or anything left unattended, could have suffered a lot of damage," Mr Harvey said.
He and other motorists caught in the storm suffered extensive damage to their vehicles.
"It hit my roof, pushed my glasses holder down, done a fair bit of damage."
The Bureau of Meteorology announced a severe weather warning for parts of Central and North Queensland on Tuesday afternoon.
North Queensland's giant hail comes a day after a tornado and wild weather whipped through the Darling Downs region.
