Qld weather: South East Qld to experience heatwave with high humidity

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for parts of South East Queensland as the humidity in Brisbane is set to climb to extreme levels over the next 48 hours, with little reprieve in sight.

Brisbane will swelter through increasingly oppressive conditions over the next 48 hours as humidity soars to extreme levels due to an ongoing tropical heatwave.

The dew point, which measures the level of moisture in the air, will climb to 21C today and 24C on Friday, the highest level possible.

It is only expected to get to 23.8C in Kuala Lumpur, a city close to the equator and known for it humid conditions.

At 5.23pm on Thursday, a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for people in parts of Gympie and Southern Downs council areas.

“Severe thunderstorms were detected on the weather radar near the area northwest of Gympie,” it said.

“These thunderstorms are moving towards the northeast. They are forecast to affect the area north of Gympie by 5:50pm and Mount Kanighan by 6:20pm.

“Heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding and damaging winds are likely.”

Brisbane (left) will be more humid than the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur (right) over the next 48 hours.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Helen Reid said over the next 48 hours, it was going to be horrible everywhere, but particularly in Brisbane.

“We are looking at it tomorrow continuing to be nice and humid,” she said.

“Tomorrow will be particularly nasty.”

On Wednesday, the dew point in Brisbane reached 23C, which Ms Reid said was “very unpleasant”.

While humidity levels are expected to stay high over the next four days, heatwave conditions should ease on Sunday.

“We are hoping it will stay below 20C (dew point) for the few days after the weekend. That’s still humid but not as bad,” Ms Reid said.

Maximum temperatures are not expected to dip below 30C across South East Queensland, as large parts of the state grapple with a heatwave caused by high humidity.

“We are looking at the heat being tucked into the south east corner, the northern part have a bit of rain and thunderstorm,” she said.

“That heatwave is thanks to high humidity.

“The forecast does have 32C right through the region getting to 34C right through Ipswich.

Senior Meteorologist Harry Clark reiterated that the severe heatwave gripping the Southeast will retrain its hold, with little relief in sight.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon Mr Clark said there will be a slight decrease in humidity for the first part of next week.

“It won’t be a complete relief, but returning to more typical levels. So it’s not going to be a classic, cool change unfortunately, but a more gradual return to normal.”

Maximum temperatures across South East Queensland won’t dip below 30C until Monday, while overnight Wednesday the minimum only dropped to 24.9C, well above the average of 21.9C.

“It’s going to be stinking hot,” Ms Reid said.

On Friday and Saturday maximum temperatures in Brisbane were predicted to be 34C.

At 1.11pm Thursday, the Bureau warned of severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett and Darling Downs and Granite Belt forecast districts.

“Slow-moving thunderstorms are developing in a humid and unstable air mass in South East Queensland today, with the potentially for localised heavy rainfall. Locations which may be affected include Dalby, Kingaroy, Wondai, Chinchilla and Mundubbera,” the warning read.

BOM has predicted a Queensland heatwave lasting until Monday.

Ms Reid said the south east was facing possible thunderstorms through to the weekend.

“The thunderstorms won’t cool anything down,” she said.

“Right through the south east we are looking at possible thunderstorms for today, not so much tomorrow but Saturday has a higher opportunity.”

Ms Reid said the Sunshine Coast would expect thunderstorms on Sunday.

Originally published as Qld weather: South East Qld to experience heatwave with high humidity