Australia Weather News

Queenslanders are set for an early taste of summer this week with temperatures expected to reach well above average.

Birdsville in the state's south-west could see its highest October temperature in three years if it reaches the expected top of 43C on Thursday.

Locals in the remote town are no stranger to high temperatures, but the unseasonal spring heat has some already making plans to stay cool.

"I probably won't be heading to the pool … I'm more of a fan of Pelican Point, which is our lagoon," Birdsville local Alex Oswald said.

"It's a great place to jump in and go swimming and there are lots of trees for shade as well."

The hot days are likely to lead to sleepless nights with Thursday's overnight temperature forecast to stay at 29C, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

"No real reprieve, even overnight in the south-west … the temperature is up to 11C above average," meteorologist Pieter Claassen said.

Many regions in the state's west, from the gulf to the channel country, are expected to exceed their average monthly daytime temperatures.

Mount Isa is forecast to reach 39C on Friday, 4C above the October average.

Cunnamulla in the state's south-west will be 39C on Thursday, nearly 10C higher than average.

It is likely to top 41C in Longreach on Friday, which could see families head to the popular Thomson River for a dip across the weekend.

There will be an elevated chance of fire danger across western and southern Queensland.

"We have quite gusty northerly winds across those regions as well and at least high fire danger is being forecast right across [the] western and southern interior over the next few days," Mr Claassen said.

"Even getting into extreme fire danger potentially in the channel country."

Hot weather heads to the south-east

Mr Claassen said as the weather patterns change toward the end of the week, the hot weather is set to make its way to the east by the weekend.

It is forecast to reach 34C in Brisbane on Saturday, almost 8C above the average October temperature.

"We'll see a trough moving to the south-west of the state on Friday that is going to move east and capture those really warm temperatures," Mr Claassen said.

He expects temperatures to cool down across the east coast from Sunday.

Possible storms for parts of the state

The Bureau of Meteorology warned of possible thunderstorms for southern Queensland, with a risk of severe storms in the state's far south-west in the coming days.

"We'll see isolated storms in the southern interior the next few days," Mr Claassen said.

"With that trough that I mentioned coming into the south-west of the state on Friday, we'll see a broader band of showers and storms extend through as that moves eastward."

However, rainfall will continue to ease across some parts of the east coast.

"Just one or two little showers and maybe a few more around the north tropical coast by Thursday or Friday that should have largely eased."