Australia Weather News

Regional Queensland is in for welcome Christmas rain as a Top End low drags moisture over the Sunshine State. 

In the south-east, heatwave conditions are being exacerbated by high humidity with the dew point rivalling that in the tropical north. 

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Felim Hanniffy said the low crossed the Northern Territory border on Sunday, packing a punch.

"We have extensive shower and thunderstorm activity moving across the state during the early days of this week," he said. 

"Western Queensland initially, and then spreading more across central and eastern Queensland, as we move through the second half of this week."

North-west districts recorded localised falls of up to 65 millimetres on Sunday, with falls of 50-100 millimetres expected each day in the lead-up to Christmas.

Elliot Dunn, the Queensland Police Service Emergency Management coordinator in Mount Isa, said travellers to the north-west should be prepared for changes to their journey.

"Be prepared to turn around and take an alternate route," he said.

"Don't do stupid things and drive through floodwaters. It's not worth taking that risk – some locals think they know better."

South-east hot and humid

In the south-east, Mr Hanniffy said heatwave conditions would worsen before an expected cool change on Christmas Day.

"We've got severe heatwave conditions early this week combining with humid conditions," Mr Hanniffy said. 

"Particularly close to the coast we will notice conditions getting increasingly humid on Monday and on Tuesday as well. 

"The dew point ticking up into the mid-20s is akin to what you would normally see in Far North Queensland at this time of year."

For south-east Queensland, temperatures were expected in the low 30s on the coast and mid-to-high 30s in inland areas. 

The western Darling Downs and eastern Maranoa and Warrego districts were likely to hit 40 degrees on Monday. 

"From Boxing Day it will be much fresher: as that south-easterly comes in, it then helps focus the rainfall on central and north-east Queensland," Mr Hanniffy said.

Wet weather for Christmas

While Queensland's north tropical coast is not expecting wet weather to start the week, it will set in by Christmas Day. 

"Christmas and Boxing Day and into the weekend look quite wet for north-east Queensland," Mr Hanniffy said. 

"Certainly, for many areas, apart from the far south-west, most of the rest of the state is likely to have showers and storms for Christmas Day and the risk of localised heavy falls.

"For areas further north around central and northern Queensland, it is likely to be a wet end to the Christmas week as well."