Central Highlands and Coalfields Forecast

Weather Situation

A high over the northern Tasman Sea extends a ridge onto the tropical east coast of Queensland. A vigorous surface trough lies over the far southwest of the state and will move slowly eastwards over the southern interior during today. Hot, dry and gusty northwesterly winds will extend over much of southern Queensland ahead of this feature, resulting in severe to extreme fire dangers. The trough will then weaken a little while extending further east over the southern inland during Monday. A series of weak upper troughs will maintain some instability over the south of the state, though any resulting storms are not expected to have much if any rain associated with them. Temperatures will remain well above the September average over much of the southern half of the state and the northwest in the week ahead. A coastal trough may provide a slight drop in temperature to the southern coast on Wednesday. A new trough will most likely move east into the interior of the state on Thursday, again resulting in enhanced fire dangers. The southerly flow in the wake of the trough will likely provide a large drop in temperature to areas in the far southwest of the state from Thursday, while hot to very hot conditions will persist over remaining southern districts.