Hot change to lock in a humid spell

FAR Northerners need the air conditioning going for the foreseeable future as hot muggy conditions descend on the region.

Bureau of Meterology duty forecaster Mark Trenorden said there would be “no obvious relief for a while” from 31 degree maximums and 60-70 per cent humidity.

Minimum temperatures are forecast to stay about 23 degrees making for some uncomfortable nights.

“You’ve got warm, moist air coming down from the tropics and until that swings around to bring in winds from the south east, it’ll stay humid,” he said.

The Tablelands was expected to cop thunderstorms each afternoon this week as a weather system more than 1000km long stays in the region until the weekend.

The area was lashed by a storm which brought hail and strong winds on Monday afternoon.

Yesterday, small cells were present south of Ravenshoe.

Mr Trenorden said a surface trough from Emerald to the Gulf of Carpentaria mixed with a warm humid air mass from the northeast would bring more storms to the region this afternoon.

“It is quite dry to the west of the Tablelands and that weather system will be pretty stationary for the next few days, so expect storms Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” he said.

“By the time we get to the weekend, perhaps there will be just an odd shower around the Tablelands.”

The change in weather conditions come as cyclone season officially starts today.

The season runs until May and Far Northern residents have already been urged to prepare by clearing yards and gutters, stocking up on nonperishable food and water and work out an evacuation plan.

Four cyclones are expected to form in waters off Queensland’s east coast, including the Far North, this summer.

The northern region, which includes Western Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria is forecast to have three cyclones.

Climatologists are also observing weather patterns to determine if a La Nina system will form.

La Nina occurs when waters in the tropical Pacific Ocean cool and push warmer water towards Australia, bringing cloud and above-average rainfall.

The last one went from 2010 and into 2012 and marked Australia’s wettest two years on record.

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