Weipa hits 39 straight days above 36C as Cape York heatwave drags on

Weipa just keeps sweating. The Far North Queensland town has now clocked 39 straight days above 36 degrees Celsius, per abc.net.au, as a heatwave that began building in late October refuses to budge across Cape York Peninsula and the neighbouring Gulf Country. It peaked from severe to extreme for roughly a week starting November 5, and the town notched its hottest November day on Tuesday at 39.9C, before matching its 2024 record of 17 consecutive days above 37C on Wednesday.

The grind is wearing on people who thought they'd seen it all. Baker Josh Lyon, a Weipa resident of more than 20 years, called the heat relentless, saying sales of water and cold drinks shot through the roof and the dough in his bakery has been affected too. At the Cape Animal Protection Shelter, president Shayna Reeves said conditions stick around from sun-up to sundown, with staff handing out frozen bones and frozen kongs, topping up water buckets and watching the water itself turn hot. The shelter has cut back its opening hours to shield dogs and volunteers.

Further north, near the tip of the peninsula, the heat is colliding with a water crisis. Residents of Bamaga, Injinoo, Umagico, Seisia and New Mapoon have endured two months of rolling scheduled water outages at night, with the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council cutting supply from 9pm to 6am. The council says its water-treatment plant can't keep up with demand and reservoir levels are critically low. It's still chasing funding for a new plant that would lift capacity by 50 per cent.

Government housing offers little escape. Of 3,500 social and community homes across Cape York, only 11 have air-conditioning supplied by Queensland's Department of Housing — a spokesperson saying that's generally to support tenants with health conditions, that installing aircon isn't standard practice, and that tenants can apply to fit their own at their own cost. Even newly built social homes in the region come without it. Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council business services manager Bill Guivarra said air conditioning should be standard issue in Cape York's climate, noting many elders have none and that in this weather it becomes unbearable.

Relief isn't close. Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist David Crock said heatwaves are common this time of year, but this one is quite notable for its length and the vast area it covers; the warning for the Gulf Country and Cape York Peninsula runs through the weekend and into next week. He expects the heatwave signal to ease off a bit in the back half of next week, but the monsoon — and proper relief — may not show up until after Christmas. Queensland Health has urged extra care in the warning zone and says it treated only one person for heat stress on Cape York in the past week.