Highs of more than 30C have been forecast across most of Australia for Thursday, bringing an extreme risk of fire.
Many states were experiencing a heatwave on Thursday, with severe to extreme conditions continuing in the Top End of Australia and low intensity in much of New South Wales, the northern parts of Western Australia, northern Victoria and southern Queensland.
Sydney was forecast to reach 32C, with temperatures expected to reach 41C in the city’s west on Friday.
Brisbane and Canberra were expecting peaks of 33C and 34C on Thursday, while Darwin and Adelaide were forecast to reach 35C.
Perth and Hobart are the coolest of the eight capitals, with temperatures expected to peak at 23C and 24C respectively on Thursday. Even Melbourne was tipped to reach 30C despite a forecast of a cool change.
With the hot weather expected to continue into the weekend, the Bureau of Meterology has issued fire danger warnings for several states in a bid to prevent bushfires.
Total fire bans are in place in parts of NSW, and residents have been told to prepare for extreme fire conditions.
Hot and dry conditions were expected to continue across the Riverina region in the south-west of the state, with maximum temperatures exceeding 40C on Thursday, and westerly winds of 30-40 km/h. An extreme fire danger warning has been issued for the northern Riverina, and a severe warning for the eastern and southern regions.
NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the conditions were “awful” and similar conditions on Friday were likely.
“We will have cooler weather across Saturday and Sunday before possibly building once again into next week,” Fitzsimmons said.
With summer around the corner, Fitzsimmons urged residents to prepare now.
“Summer is here. The fire service is here. Complacency kills. We can’t afford to relax because we have had some rainfall in the last few weeks here on the eastern seaboard,” Fitzsimmons told Channel Seven on Thursday.
A very high danger of fire has been also been forecast for the central north of Tasmania and the South Interior and Gascoyne Coast regions of Western Australia. Fire warnings are in place for 10 districts in South Australia, with North West Pastoral, Flinders, Mid North and Riverland given “catastrophic fire danger” ratings.
With temperatures expected to top 40C in the north and west of Victoria on Thursday, an extreme fire danger warning has been issued for the Mallee and a severe warning for the Wimmera, Northern Country and North Central districts. A total fire ban is in place for all five regions, and 32 waterbombing aircraft have been placed around the state in readiness.
A cooler south to south-westerly change was forecast to reach the south-west of Victoria on Thursday morning, then extend north-east across the remaining districts later in the day.
“We have also got a change coming through with a lightning band later this afternoon. So that is of concern for us in relation to new starts,” Country Fire Authority chief Joe Buffone told Today.
