‘The humidity is pretty extreme’: Parts of Queensland to swelter through heatwave

While south-east Queensland slowly begins the clean-up from devastating floods, central and north Queensland will swelter through extreme heatwave conditions this week. 

The Bureau of Meteorology said the heatwave warning for Rockhampton extended up to Cairns and beyond, with temperatures as high as 42 degrees Celsius in the Central Highlands.

Central Queensland farmer Luke Bradley said his property at Orion, near Springsure, needed rain six weeks ago.

“In the last four years, we’ve got a deficit of close to 900 millimetres, which would be in total about one-and-a-half years of rainfall.

“It’s getting a bit dire out there, we were really looking for a good March to try and save some summer crops, but also set up for a winter crop.”

Mr Bradley said he has faced “constant heat” since Christmas.

He said rainfall in the region had been patchy and many people had missed out on quality, widespread rain.

Staying cool

There has also been little reprieve from unseasonably hot conditions.

Overnight temperatures remained in the high 20s along the Central Coast, with Mackay’s low a warm 27.3 degrees just before 5am.

Director of Environmental Health for the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service, Paul Florian urged people to monitor for signs of heat stress.

“There are a number of symptoms that we can experience from heat, and that is dehydration, headache and ultimately a blackout,” Dr Florian said.

Dr Florian said preventive measures, like staying cool, wearing loose clothing and a hat, as well as limiting physical activity and intensity of exercise could help.

He recommended avoiding dehydrating drinks like coffee and sipping on water throughout the day to maintain hydration, as well as finding a cool, well-ventilated place to rest during the day.

Slow-moving systems

Meteorologist James Thompson says temperatures will ease slightly on Friday, but the humidity will stick around into the weekend.

“We’ve got a trough that’s sort of lying to the south, and it’s lying all the way from our part of the world out towards Fiji, where there might even be a cyclone out there later today.

“What that means is the airflow is coming from the north towards that trough.”

The slow-moving system is pushing northern, hot, humid air down south.

He says there will be a chance of storms today and tomorrow, but Friday and Saturday could have heavier storms, with potential weather warnings.