The temperature is plotted for the current time (10am), rather than the time of maximum heating.
Brisbane CBD recorded a maximum of 31C on that day, gives CAPE of 1400-1500, Amberley recorded a maximum of 33C giving CAPE of 2000. But this doesn't take into account the cooling of the upper trough (a quick glance of the following day sounding shows a fair bit of cooling). Plotting Jan 18 max values presents CAPE knocking 3000 on the following day - meaning that CAPE was probably somewhere between 2000 and 2500 on the day.
Interestingly the SE'ly airmass is quite cool/moist (yet the DPs are low) on Jan 19. Seems like there was a strong southerly change at work on this day - which would make sense as the skew-t shows a strong cap (even at 33C). This would have meant not many storms to compete for energy.
AC
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