Fog, storms as autumn weather gets weird

A band of fog in Brisbane today. PIC: Jono Searle Source: The Courier-Mail

FOG this morning, storms this afternoon - that's the weather mix for the southeast today.

Thunderstorms have been predicted to sweep across the southeast this afternoon.

With cloud clustering during the day, the Bureau of Meteorology has predicted isolated thunderstorms would hit parts of the Sunshine Coast and Ipswich.

While temperatures will hover between 25 and 27 for the rest of the day, fresh southwest to southeast winds will pick up on the Sunshine Coast and grow into strong gusts during the afternoon thunderstorms.

Gold Coast can also expect strong gusty winds for the afternoon and a few showers in the late morning.

This morning, Brisbane woke to fog clouding the city and reduced visibility led to traffic warnings on the Pacific Motorway.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Matthew Bass said some areas around the inner western suburbs and over the city were down to 100m visibility.

"Down the southern suburbs overnight we've had a reasonable amount of low level moisture with light winds and a weak ridge creating a little fog."

Brisbane city, Ipswich and Amberley is experiencing 100m visibility while at Archerfield visibility is sitting at 1km.

Motorists have been warned of fog on the Pacific Motorway at Loganholme.

"Getting into the later parts of autumn and winter we will see more fogs around Brisbane," Mr Bass said.

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Autumn heatwave set to continue

Seeking shade: Arnold Hennel and Lil Breading take refuge from the sun at the Brighton beach boxes yesterday. Picture: Ian Currie Source: Herald Sun

VICTORIA'S heatwave is set to melt away an 18-year record with the next two days set to top 36C, as wind changes predicted for the state have firefighters on alert.

The sweaty nights will continue until at least Wednesday when a cool change is forecast to sweep through in the mid-afternoon.

The last time Victoria sweltered through seven consecutive days above 30C was in 1985, and that was equalled yesterday with a top of 35C.

Temperatures today and tomorrow are set to peak at 36C, which would set a new record of nine consecutive days above 30C.

Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Michael Efron said the state should brace itself for more hot days despite summer being over.

Relief should arrive on Wednesday, with temperatures to drop to the 20s after reaching 33C.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the wind change following a prolonged period of heat marked Wednesday as a "day of note" for firefighters.

"A change day means we've got the northerlies coming in, they move around to the southwest, so if you have fires running at the time you lose a lot of ground," Mr Lapsley told 3AW radio today.

Temperatures today and tomorrow are set to peak at 36C, which would set a new record of nine consecutive days above 30C.

"The winds are the key issues now."

Mr Lapsley said wind speeds would be about 40-50km/h but it would still be a day of note.

"February we had hot days but we didn't have any extremely windy days so we just need to be a bit careful on Wednesday," he said.

Arson is continuing to be a problem for authorities and is the suspected cause of a series of fires in Melbourne's outer southeast on Saturday, Mr Lapsley said.

He said police are investigating the fires in the Berwick and Cranbourne area which began off the side of the road.

"Just after lunchtime on Saturday there was a whole run of fires, (there) would have been about three, four fires that ran right behind each other," he said.

"You would suggest it was someone in a vehicle starting from the side of the road. Definitely the human hand is having a play with fire yet again and we certainly don't want that, so people need to stay vigilant."

 

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