Wednesday is set to be Brisbane's hottest day of the recent warm spell, before the River City is expected to be covered in a dust haze as the sun sinks.
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Meteorologist Lachlan Stoney said the "pinnacle" of recent warm weather would see south-east Queensland towns hit 40 degrees or more, before maximums would drop to the early 30s on Thursday.
He said satellite images showed dust heading for southern Queensland, meaning residents should see a dust haze late on Wednesday and on Thursday morning.
A stagnant air mass over southern Queensland, winds from western and north-western parts of the state and refreshing sea breezes raising humidity levels would be to blame for a hot and sticky Wednesday.
Brisbane City was predicted to have a maximum of 36 degrees, the Gold Coast Seaway was due to reach 33 and Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast was forecast to hit 34.
"We have an air mass over southern Queensland at the moment that is quite stagnant and there have been no significant cool changes recently," Mr Stoney said.
"It has been warming up day after day and the wind direction recently has been from the west and north-west, which is dragging warm inland air towards the coast and further heating it up.
"We have been getting afternoon sea breezes along the coast and while they do take the edge off the heat, they also raise the humidity."
Beaudesert, Boonah and Gatton were expected to reach 41 degrees on Wednesday, while Ipswich, Esk and Laidley were forecast to hit a top of 40.
The Central Highlands towns of Emerald and Rolleston were bracing for tops of 43 degrees.
Strong winds brought a dusty haze to Sydney and the east coast of NSW on Wednesday, reducing the air quality to hazardous in some areas.
A significant and swift cool change was expected to reach the south-east on Thursday.
Boonah was forecast to go from a top of 41 on Wednesday to 31 the following day, while Gatton was expected to enjoy a nine-degree drop and an eight-degree difference was due in Beaudesert.
Brisbane was predicted to drop to a maximum of 32 degrees on Thursday, while the Gold Coast Seaway and Caloundra were expected to reach tops of 30.
Possible showers and partly cloudy conditions were forecast from Thursday onwards and across the weekend for large parts of south-east Queensland, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
A western Queensland town suffered through 43 consecutive days where the maximum temperature exceeded 40 degrees, according to the bureau's January climate summary.
Senior climatologist Dr Andrew Watkins said last month was Australia's warmest on record after the mean temperature averaged across the country exceeded 30 degrees for the first time.
Dr Watkins said January was also one of Queensland's warmest ever, particularly in western parts where the past month had seen very dry conditions.
"They appear to have missed out on a lot of rainfall as well," he said.
"Cloncurry was the standout both in terms of how hot the temperatures were and how long the high temperatures lasted. [It] had 43 days in a row over 40 degrees Celsius."
The previous record of consecutive days hotter than 40 degrees in Cloncurry, about 120 kilometres east of Mt Isa, was 31 days.
