Heat turns Brisbane into ghost town

Brisbane reached 35.4 degrees, more than six above average, while Ipswich sweltered under 40.2 degree heat.

The Gold and Sunshine Coasts, buffeted by a cooling sea breeze just topped 32 degrees.

But that might be it for a while in terms of stifling hot weather, Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Matthew Bass said, although don’t expect to see any rain for quite a while.

“Around the Christmas period was when it did rain the most last and we have had this big dome of hot dry air over the interior which has been effecting us as well,” Mr Bass said, explaining where the hot weather had sprung from.

“But over the last couple of days we have started to see a monsoon develop up north so generally when that happens we see a lot more activity across Queensland, particularly in the north.

"On Friday and Saturday we might start seeing some showers. There still isn’t going to be heaps in it but that is the first chance we are getting a bit more of activity, weather wise.”

Which means cooler temperatures.

“We are moving into slightly cooler conditions over the coming days ,” he said.

“Brisbane is looking at 32 and that will drop even further on Monday and Tuesday back down to 30 and from Thursday onwards we are looking at temps even down to 29 degrees.”

But with the monsoons in the interior comes humidity, so while the air temperature may appear lower on the mercury, Queensland can expect to feel sticky for a few more weeks.