Australia Weather News

Heatwave conditions have scorched southern Queensland today for a second time in just over a week, with paramedics preparing for another spike in heat-related cases.

Temperatures are forecast to be 5 to 10 degrees Celsius above average in Brisbane until at least Saturday.

Brisbane is expected to hit 35C, while further west, Ipswich will hit 38C and Toowoomba 36C.

The Gold Coast will be slightly cooler with a predicted top of 32C and the Sunshine Coast is set to hit 33C.

Centres like Bedourie and Birdsville in far south-west Queensland will swelter in the mid-40s.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecaster Michael Knepp said with high humidity, conditions would not be too much cooler at night.

"For example, Saturday morning the minimum temperature might not get as low as 27 in some places, so you are not getting that relief from the heat overnight into Saturday," he said.

"We do have a southerly change coming up the coast on Saturday and that should be the end of this heatwave."

Randall Kempel, from the ice works at Hemmant in Brisbane's east, said his team was working hard to deliver ice across the city.

"[There's] huge demand — everyone's using ice at the moment," he said.

"People are still on holidays as well, so ordinarily it's normally a weekend thing.

"We're preparing for Australia Day as well so we're literally going for it at the moment."

Outdoor workers deal with the heat

For high-rise window cleaners, the heat can be more extreme, with the sun reflecting off the glass.

Hi-Trades director Kelli Lake and her team are on the Gold Coast today.

Ms Lake said if temperatures got too hot they would call work off, but they usually had strategies to deal with the heat.

"Wherever the sun is we'll work on the opposite side of the building," she said.

"With our scheduling we do try [to] get some of the smaller buildings when we know the weather's going to be hot and humid.

"You just have to work with it, no matter what we have to be out there all day, every day, so you have to be smart with your positioning and work it to your advantage."

Heat stroke fears

People are being warned to stay hydrated and out of the sun, with health authorities urging people to keep an eye on neighbours living alone and ensure they have good ventilation and keep their fluids up.

Paramedics said more than 200 people collapsed with heat stroke last week and nearly half were hospitalised.

Matthew Hall, 30, died while quad bike riding on the Sunshine Coast last Friday when his body temperature hit 42C.

Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman Tony Hucker said everyone — no matter what their age — was at risk.

Mr Hucker said people often underestimated how easy it was to become dehydrated.

"We can see a spike of an extra 100 heat-related cases in a day," he said.

"Heat stroke can kill anyone — even a young fit person that is not watching what they are doing and they continue to exert themselves without taking fluids on and allowing their body temperature to rise quickly — it is dangerous."

Crop losses predicted

Meanwhile, Chinchilla watermelon farmer Terry O'Leary said some of his crops would not survive this week's temperatures and the surviving melons would be much smaller.

He said he was set to lose hundreds of tonnes of fruit.

"That'll pretty well mean we'll have a 20-hectare crop of watermelons that will be going straight to cattle fodder," he said.

"After this next heatwave they just won't have the legs to be able to keep going.

"It certainly has knocked the yield potential back on this crop by at least a couple of hundred tonnes.

"We'll only be getting six to seven kilogram bits of fruit, rather than our usual nine to 11 [kilograms]."

Scott Wallace from fruit and vegetable industry group Growcom said the heat would put pressure on farmers dealing with rising irrigation costs.

"Some growers are paying 50 to 100 per cent more than they were paying two years ago," he said.

With some fruit pickers unable to work in the afternoons due to the heat, Mr Wallace said growers would still try to keep up with demand.

"If Coles or Woolies are asking for a certain supply, they're trying to meet that as well as trying to maintain product quality off the farm in to the supermarket."