When it comes to the stifling heat and humidity and the lack of rain in Cairns, there's good news and there's bad news. 

The good news is that more rain is expected over the next few days than Cairns received for the entire month of December.

The bad news is that the total for last month was only 26.8 mm. That's hardly a drop when compared to the local December average of 174.8 mm.

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting an underwhelming start to the relief with a 60% chance of rain of just 4mm to 15mm on Thursday, and a 90% chance of up to 30mm of rain on Friday.

But BOM meteorologist Aditi Sharan says there might be more chance of thunderstorms bringing heavier rain on Friday.

She predicts this might be similar to the thunderstorms and heavy falls being experienced inland.

Winds are tipped to pick up on Friday with a light southeasterly of between 15 to 20 km/h, increasing to 20 to 25 km/h on the weekend.

The forecast of showers also continues with an 80 per cent chance of rain on Saturday, and 70 per
cent on Sunday.