If you live in Queensland long enough, you develop a sort of Stockholm syndrome about the weather over summer. You find a weird satisfaction in weathering (sorry) the oppressive heat and humidity of the day and the frequent, intense thunderstorms of the afternoon, both of which are capped off by nights so hot that you find yourself inching away from anyone you are sharing a bed with so as to maximise the effectiveness of your body’s thermoregulation.
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The promise of a storm in the afternoon always builds an air of excited anticipation — partly because it will help break the goddamn heat for twenty goddamn minutes and also partly because you never know which storm is going to be one of those ones that roll through the city ripping roofs of houses and tipping over trees. It looks like a lot of us will get to be excited tomorrow, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting possible storm activity for all 6,973km of Queensland’s mainland coastline.
#QldStorm forecast for Wednesday: A line of thunderstorms with possible damaging wind gusts will clear off the east coast during the late morning or early afternoon. By mid-afternoon, storms will be confined to #FNQ. Warnings will be issued if necessary: https://t.co/lr2ABncMoi pic.twitter.com/ImebsrUjBz
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) November 27, 2018
With varying levels of severity, folks from Cooloongatta all the way up to Cape York and all way down and across to the NT border can expect the possibility of a lovely bit of weather sometime during the day, which I imagine will come as a relief especially to the people in Far North Queensland currently the mercy of a record-breaking heatwave.
Records continue to fall ☀️ with #Townsville breaking its November max reaching 41.7°C. #Innisfail Airport exceeded its all time record set yesterday, reaching 42.3°C. #Cooktown has also recorded its hottest day on record reaching 43.9°C 🌡 #Qldheat: https://t.co/CeyfdOkECu pic.twitter.com/6O8BSWjd68
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) November 27, 2018
As always when the weather starts getting more extreme: keep a regular watch on the weather alerts for your area so you can prepare accordingly, whether it be for intense heat or surprise storms. Keep well hydrated, don’t drive through flood waters, don’t lock your pets in the car, check in with elderly friends and relatives and anyone else in your community who might need help, and, most importantly, take it easy out there.
Have a summer.
