THE wind whistled through Cairns on the weekend, drying washing in record time but angering boaties who wanted to get out on the water.

The strong gusts of up to 30 knots also thwarted the Olympic dreams of long-jumpers Robbie Crowther and John Thornell, who could not qualify for their event at the Coral Coast Track and Field Carnival on the weekend because the wind was faster than 2m a second.

Strong wind warnings of 25 to 30 knots issued by the weather bureau on Friday night were still in place yesterday and are not expected to be lifted until about mid-week.

"All the recreational boaties aren't happy," Cairns weather office observer Robert Michelini said yesterday.

"They couldn't go fishing. Winds at those sorts of speeds don't make it very pleasant on the water."

The blustery southeasterlies are being driven by a large high pressure system in the Great Australian Bight, with maximum gusts of 30 knots recorded in Cairns on Saturday and 28 knots yesterday.

So far, only 13mm has fallen in Cairns during June, compared with the month's 47mm long-term average.

However, the very wet start to the year means Cairns is already close, at nearly 1800mm, to reaching its yearly average rainfall of 1996mm less than six months into the year.

The lack of clouds is also keeping temperatures down, with the mercury in Cairns forecast to fall lower than the June minimum average of 17.8C last night. A chilly 13C was forecast for Mareeba overnight, below its June minimum average of 15.5C.

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