SE QLD HEATWAVE - JANUARY 20, 2000

The morning started with a WSW'ly wind, and the mercury quickly rose after that, soaring to 33C by mid-morning.  I recorded a 9am temp of 35.1C!  The winds continued to change to the WNW and NW, this combined with similar low level winds prevented much of the air from being able to rise.  A trough moving over was to blame for the winds, and while the winds themselves were relatively weak throughout the day, the strong cap did not allow air to rise at all, and surpressed it.  Combined with the subsidence caused by the upper level ridge over SE Queensland, it prevented the seabreeze from coming in until mid-afternoon, and meant that much of the heat would be surpressed to near the surface.

Electricity consumption soared with the heat, and waterparks had record numbers flock to the pools after what had been a significantly below average season with the cool wather.  The official temperature was 39.1C at the Brisbane AP, this is the highest January record (previous highest being 38.3C).  Many of the suburbs however reached the low 40's, with some areas getting into the mid 40's depending on the local topography.  My maximum temperature was 45.5C, my first 40+ on record!

The seabreeze did finally come in after 2-3pm, although it was not much releif as it did not penetrate very far.  Even then, it did not give much relief to those areas it did pass through, as the DP rose considerably.  Just after 2pm, it was 36C with a DP of 24C at the Brisbane AP, giving a CAPE of a whopping 4916!

It is rare for Brisbane to get into the high 30's, as normally a NE wind prevails.  It is only in exceptional circumstances that Brisbane ever does get into the high 30's.