Hot weather eases for eastern Australia

Eastern Australia found itself in the grip of an intense heatwave last week, but there will be a brief respite within the next few days.

New South Wales and Queensland have already seen some relief with storms rolling through to break the heat.

Both states experienced some flooding over the weekend as heavy downpours broke out over southeast Queensland. Ipswich received 121mm of rain on Sunday. This is just over the average for the entire month of January which stands at 117mm.

Elsewhere, just 55km further east, Brisbane recorded 83mm of rain in 24 hours. However, 60mm of that fell in just one hour.

Further south, Bellingen in New South Wales notched up 188mm during the weekend. Flooding was widespread along the state’s northeastern coastline. Quieter and cooler weather has now settled in and should remain in place for much of this week.

That hot weather is currently getting pushed into Victoria. Bushfire alerts are in place across the state with total fire bans in place.

Meanwhile, all eyes are currently on Melbourne where the Australian Open tennis has just got under way.

Tuesday is likely to be one of the hottest days of the summer in Melbourne. December 28 is the hottest so far with a high of 38.2C. Tuesday is likely to come close to that figure.

That heat will be short-lived. A “southerly buster” is expected to move through by Tuesday evening. There is the possibility of some showers or longer spells of rain from midweek onwards.

At least the temperatures will be rather more comfortable as they will be pegged back nearer the mid-20s Celsius until the beginning of next week.