More than half of Australia is sweating through a heatwave, with scorching temperatures in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory expected this weekend.
Huge stretches of outback across northern Australia had been warned by the Bureau of Meteorology to expect heatwave conditions stretching into next week.
A severe heatwave warning was current for much of inland Queensland, with extreme and severe heatwave conditions affecting Richmond, Longreach, Roma and Charleville.
Temperatures had hit 43C at Richmond as of midday Saturday, 42C at Mount Isa, 44C at Longreach and 43C at Boulia.
Much of the area would see high temperatures stretch all the way up to Friday, with Mount Isa expected to reach maximums above 39C all week.
Brisbane was now experiencing a “low intensity” heatwave, with a maximum of 30C expected on Saturday and to remain until Friday.
In the Northern Territory, heatwave conditions were affecting Timber Creek, which was due to hit 43C, and Katherine, where the mercury could top out at 42C.
In Western Australia, much of the north coast was gripped by the heatwave, with Broome and Derby feeling the worst temperatures.
Broome was due to see temperatures rise to 34C, while Derby was forecast to see a maximum of 38C.
The weather was stretching over to inland New South Wales as well, with Tibooburra, Bourke and Coonamble all expected to reach maximums of above 32C.
A senior meteorologist at the BoM, Miriam Bradbury, said that while the temperatures were not breaking records, it was their consistency that was raising concerns.
“Heatwaves aren’t necessarily about the highest peak temperatures that we might see there. They’re about persistent above-average temperatures,” she said. “And so when the temperatures are consistently above average for a period of at least three days with the warm nights in between, that’s when we start to get those heatwave conditions building.
“So for the next week at least, we are expecting those really, really hot conditions and the heatwaves to remain ongoing in the far northern parts of Queensland, northern parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia as well.
“In the next week or so, we aren’t seeing any strong systems coming to sweep away that heat,” she said.
Bradbury added that the heat had been in the region “for a while” but had intensified over the past week.
“That heat is lingering and is stagnating over those northern parts of the continent, and it’s just not going anywhere. So it’s unfortunately likely to persist in much the same way for the next little while at least.”
