Weather records broken as Queensland nears three d...

Weather records broken as Queensland nears three dozen consecutive days over 40 degrees

Updated January 18, 2019 07:04:10

Queensland has broken its record for the most consecutive days above 40 degrees Celsius.

Cloncurry and Camooweal, in the state's north west, recorded 33 days between December 16 last year and January 17 this year.

Prior to this, the record stood at 31 consecutive days, recorded in 2012 in Birdsville and 1973 in Boulia and Urandangi.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast the record will continue to rise in the coming weeks.

Meteorologist Henry Clark said a lack of 'significant weather' across the region has been a factor in the long hot days.

"We haven't seen a proper monsoon develop across the top of Australia yet, we haven't seen any cold fronts coming up from the south," he said.

"So, we've just been left with this really stagnant air mass for much of the past month.

"We've also seen very little rainfall over much of western and north western Queensland over that period."

Compensation for energy bills

Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell said he would like to see the State Government help pay power bills when there is a spate of unrelenting high temperatures.

"The people out here have significantly bigger bills than our southern or coastal cousins and that is just because we use our air-conditioning more, and generally most of the day we're running it," he said.

"When we see how much focus is put on the capital cities when they've got a couple of hot days … it would be nice if that focus could be given to the people of western Queensland and western New South Wales.

"When we get these records and it's noticeable, when it's out of the ordinary, a 15-20 per cent [electricity discount] would really make a nice difference to the people."

Locals not shocked by record

Samantha Walton lives 60 kilometres west of Cloncurry at Rosebud Station with her fiance Eddie Campbell.

Ms Walton said she was not surprised to see records broken in the region.

"It's been pretty long but I can't really say its out of the ordinary for this time of year," she said.

"We haven't really had much rain yet because the wet season hasn't really kicked in for it to cool down."

Ms Walton said people tend to start their jobs earlier and stay out of the heat when the temperatures get over 40C.

"Everyone is just trying to cool down, I think," she said.

"Its not a humid heat, its all just very dry heat, so kind of when it gets over the 40 degrees you don't really notice it if its 43 or 45 or 41.

"I don't think we're going to see anything for a while. I think the BOM said something might eventuate over the next 3 months, but I don't think we're going to see anything anytime soon."

The weather bureau has predicted temperatures to remain over 40C in Camooweal and Cloncurry over the next week.

Mr Clark said it was important for people to stay cool and stay out of the sun during these times.

"People up in that part of the world are pretty sensible when it comes to heat as it is its very hot for much of the year," he said.

"But obviously this event has been prolonged, so its important for people to keep an eye out for their neighbours, stay under air conditioning if you can, and obviously stay as cool as you can."

Topics: weather, rural, community-and-society, health, environment, cloncurry-4824, mount-isa-4825, longreach-4730, camooweal-4828, broken-hill-2880, qld

First posted January 18, 2019 06:38:39