Record December temperature at Thargomindah

It was the south west Queensland town’s hottest December day on record but the locals were taking it all in their stride.

Speaking from the bar at the Bulloo River Hotel, Shirley said locals expected it to be hot in December.

“Most people just went to the pool or down to the creek,” she said, commenting that it was “quite cool” on Friday, at 38 degrees at noon, thanks to a few clouds and a breeze.

Birdsville has also been sweltering more than usual – it was 48 degrees there on Wednesday.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster, Harry Clark, said that was still below the 1972 all-time record for the town of 49.5 degrees.

It was 46.7 at the Bellera gas fields on Thursday but with only 17 years of records, Mr Clark said it was hard to make any comparisons there.

“Most of inland Queensland has been well above average the last few days,” he said.

“Generally, it’s been about six to eight degrees above average in central, north west and southern parts.

“The good news is, we’ve seen the worst of the heat.”

Birdsville today was expected to top at 41 degrees and cool down to 35 degrees on Saturday.

Longreach is experiencing 43 degrees of heat today but will be marginally cooler on Saturday at 42, and down to a top of 38 degrees by Monday.

Mr Clark said the heat was largely thanks to a lack of weather.

“There’s what we call an upper ridge across the continent, and a trough is lingering that’s dragging the heat down from Western Australia and the Northern Territory,” he said.

While there was a chance of a thunderstorm in western parts on Friday and again on Saturday, Mr Clark said it was unlikely there would be a rainy Christmas present for many outside the tropics.