Smoke in Collingwood Park. CREDIT: Seven News

It seems like there's no stopping the rise in temperature when it comes to the current climate. On Monday, Brisbane reached a balmy 35.1 degrees-- the hottest day that its citizens had to sweat through in four years. Today, Australia's south coast is expected to reach 40 degrees; a little over that and it may well be the hottest day of the year for the subcontinent. According to experts, one cause of this might be the hot air mass that had been building over the northern parts of the territory while the bodies of water surrounding the continent had been no help as the warm surface temperature continue to rise.

A rundown of the week's weather was given by Weatherzone Meteorologist Rob Sharpe in a press release. Sharpe says that the conditions being what they are, a sure steady climb in temperature should be expected over the weekend. "That heat is really building over Queensland. When the cool changes are coming through it's not pushing the heat far away, so the heat is able to sweep back into eastern Queensland fairly quickly," Sharpe said. "The Brisbane average maximum is 27 for October, and thus far Brisbane is averaging 30.5 degrees. It is likely Brisbane will see one of its hottest Octobers on record."

Fire fighters are especially quick to act on this information as the threats of bush fires are ever-present when the overall climate is like this. It is estimated that a minimum of 20 fires will break out all over the state. Although none are projected to do damage to property, it cannot be stressed enough how everyone should be prepared in case of an emergency. A fire rating of 'severe', the highest the ranking could be, is issued for today and the rest of the week. Locations that have been singled out include: Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders, Capricornia, Central Highlands and Coalfields, Central West and North West. Residents should prepare for an immediate emergency should the fires prove to be hazardous and out of control. Rural Fire Service Queensland warned any fires may be erratic, fast-moving, and will most probably be hard to contain.