As most of South East Queensland broke weather records yesterday for the highest temperatures ever seen in the month of March, towns in the state’s north have been warned of a potential cyclone brewing.

Across the region yesterday, Ipswich reached 41C by 3pm, while Gatton sweltered at 41.1C and temperatures in Brisbane’s CBD soared to 37C.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast the high temperatures will stay around until at least the weekend when a cool change could come in the form of thunderstorms that drop temperatures into the mid to high-20s.

Meanwhile, towns between Cairns and the Gulf of Carpentaria have been warned that a low-pressure system swirling off the coast could soon become a cyclone.

Forecasters say there is a moderate chance of a cyclone forming and moving towards Far North Queensland from Papua New Guinea by Monday.

If the system continues to grow, up to 50mm of rain could be dumped along the coast near Cairns and up to 300mm over the Coral Sea by Tuesday.

Far North Queensland could receive dumping amounts of rain leading into the coming week, as the chance of a cyclone forming increases. (Weatherzone)

The potential weather system would be the third cyclone Far North Queensland has received since December after Cyclones Owen and Penny both brought 120km/h winds and dumping rain to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Late last month, Cyclone Oma also delivered fierce winds, huge waves and forced the closure of beaches along Queensland's south-east coast.

THE NATIONAL FORECAST

Sydney: Forecast showers and 24C until a chance of thunderstorms and up to 60mm of rain tomorrow and Friday.

Canberra: Cloud cover today and 22C before light showers leading into the weekend.

Melbourne: Mostly sunny weather until the beginning of next week and a burst of heat up to 30C over the weekend.

Hobart: Cooler weather for coming days and partly cloudy. Temperatures in the low-20s until next week.

Adelaide: Sunny weather until the weekend and then a string of hot days with temperatures in the mid-30s next week.

Perth: Partly cloudy today with slight winds, and then increasing temperatures over coming days up to about 33C leading into next week.