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Hot and dry conditions “perfect for bushfires” are expected to linger over Queensland into November as Brisbane residents sweat through steamy conditions on Thursday.
Queensland’s Fire Department issued a slew of total fire bans this week that came into effect from Wednesday and covered 23 local government areas from Gladstone to the NSW border.
“We’ve got some challenging weather conditions coming over [Wednesday and Thursday] across southern and central Queensland,” Rural Fire Service Queensland assistant chief officer Joel Gordon said.
Summer has paid a midweek visit to Brisbane, with temperatures hitting 34 degrees into the CBD.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
“We’ve got a whole lot of hot air that’s been sitting in Central Australia, which is… bringing some strong winds, low humidity and obviously high surface temperatures.”
Weather bureau senior meteorologist Felim Hanniffy said the south-east was hitting “the peak of the heat” on Thursday, but expected hot conditions to return from Monday.
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“Next week, you definitely see another burst of westerlies bringing hot conditions and 38 on the current forecast for Ipswich come Tuesday, and for Brisbane itself, [it will be] 34 by around Tuesday,” Hanniffy said.
He said costal regions of south-east and Central Queensland would generally stay cooler due to sea breezes drawn in by hot inland conditions, but the fresh air would also raise humidity.
Gordon predicted the rolling weather pattern might continue for months, which could force the Fire Department to extend its current bans beyond next week, until “the onset of the wet”.
“At this stage, over the next 14 days we’re not seeing any significant rainfall,” Gordon said.
Hanniffy said global weather patterns – including currents in the Indian Ocean and a heat spike in Antarctica – and westerly winds that were drier than predicted had pushed back wet weather that had been expected in early spring.
The premier said firefighters had responded to 70 fires across the state in a 24-hour window across Wednesday and Thursday.Credit: Queensland Fire Department
“It does look like the first half of October, we’re locked in that drier, warmer pattern, with very little in the way of forecasted rainfall around the south-east, but certainly the second half of October – and particularly as we head into November – the outlooks remain wetter,” he said.
“It’s just been delayed rather than gotten rid of.”
Total fire bans are in effect for the entire south-east, across the Fraser Coast and inland areas up to Gladstone. The department announced additional bans on Thursday, covering inland of Townsville almost 140,000 square kilometres.
Premier David Crisafulli said up to 30 fires were still burning statewide on Thursday morning, and crews had responded to 70 calls in a 24-hour period across Wednesday and Thursday.
“My message across the border to Queensland is do the right thing … there will always be a bushfire risk, but we are part of it as well,” he said.
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