Large parts of Queensland have recorded temperatures around 10 degrees higher than average as about two dozen bushfires prompt warnings across the state.
A meteorologist, Livio Regano, said despite temperatures being much higher than October averages the weather pattern in Queensland was not technically a heatwave at this stage.
“It is certainly going in that direction,” Regano said. “A lot of places are getting up to 10 degrees higher than average temperatures and some are even more so.
“Any inland place at the moment – especially southern and central regions but not so much the tropics – is experiencing these much higher than normal temperatures.
“It’s not just today, it will probably be even more so in the days to come, leading up to that cool change later in the week.”
The conditions are challenging for firefighters, with more than 20 bushfire warnings current across Queensland at 2pm on Monday, from Cape York to the Gold Coast. Residents in the Millmerran Downs, Cypress Gardens and Tara regions had been told to immediately evacuate due to fast-moving fires.
Regano said weather conditions could remain difficult in parts of the state later this week, despite temperatures being expected to drop.
“It’ll be getting quite windy actually and we’re a bit concerned about fire danger in the channel country after the change has gone through, because we’ll see a really big south-easterly change,” Regano said.
Meteorologists are also tracking the path of Cyclone Lola, which has formed in the south Pacific, and will make history if it moves west into Australia’s area of responsibility. No cyclone recorded in the Coral Sea has done so during October since the 1970s, when reliable records began.
Australia’s cyclone season is usually from November to April, typically peaking in Queensland in February and March.
Lola is expected to increase from a category two to a three storm by the time it impacts Vanuatu, some time on late Wednesday.
The system is expected to move south-west and then weaken as it travels towards New Caledonia, but the Bureau of Meteorology does not expect it to get close to the Queensland coast.
The bureau said there had been reduced tropical cyclone activity for Australia during El Niño years. But it warned there was a potential for that to change this cyclone season, judging by current conditions.
“Globally ocean temperatures are the warmest that they have been on record for any month since April,” a bureau spokesperson said.
“So the oceans are holding a lot of heat so that may indicate increased potential for initial fuel for cyclones this season.”
The bureau has warned that Queenslanders can still expect flooding and tropical cyclones despite El Niño promising a hotter and drier summer for Australia.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
