As a heatwave sweeps across southwest Queensland, heavy rain has prompted flood warnings in the north of the state and looks set to persist until the New Year.

December 26, 2018

North Queensland is set for a soggy start to 2019 but in the southern half of the sunshine state, the mercury is rising as a nationwide heatwave sets in.

It comes as heavy rain and thunderstorms, which waterlogged much of the state’s north over the Christmas break, are forecast to increase in the coming days.

It’s prompted a flood watch to be issued for the far north Queensland coast from Rollingstone, just north of Townsville, to Cooktown.

A major flood warning has also been issued for the Daintree and Mossman rivers, near Port Douglas, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

Falls of up to 218mm have been recorded near Cairns and up to 180mm near Cooktown over the past 24 hours, meteorologist Adipi Sharan told AAP on Wednesday.

For Cow Bay Hotel manager Kelly Smith, the rain has been a welcome relief after a record-breaking dry and hot spell hit the small town, located next to the Daintree National Park, just before Christmas.

“They’re predicting eight days of it, we’ve only had three so far but my rain gauge is already averaging 250mm every day,” she said.

“Some days you can get 12 inches of rain falling in a couple of hours, our gutters can’t catch up.”

Further north at the Cooktown Hotel, Matthew Fleet says the rain has cut the road south of town, stopping the bus leaving and newspapers arriving.

“Everybody has been stocking up getting ready for being locked in, sometimes we can get stuck here for a couple of weeks,” he said.

“But we’re looking forward to a good crab season after this rain flushes them out, and the Barra will be firing too.”

The north’s big wet is likely to be followed by a monsoon trough developing in the Gulf of Carpenteria, Ms Sharan says.

It will mostly affect the Peninsula district, however, the entire Queensland tropics is predicted to remain rainy into 2019.

Meanwhile, in the state’s southwest, a low-intensity heatwave is pushing temperatures into the 40s to many inland areas.

Birdsville is forecast to peak at 42C on Thursday, with the high temperatures forecast to carry through until New Year’s Day when 45C is predicted.

Local hotel worker Darren Collins says it’s hot but not too far above normal for this time of year.

“Sometimes it feels like we’re living in an oven but we don’t do it as tough as Burke and Wills, we have got air-conditioning out here,” he joked.