Sydney has endured its hottest ever start to October on record as fire danger warnings were issued across NSW – and as two bushfires threatened campers and towns in eastern Victoria.
According to data from the Bureau of Meteorology, two years had tied for Sydney’s hottest 1 October on record: 33.1C was recorded at Observatory Hill weather station in both 1961 and 2009.
However, the station recorded 35.6C at 3.02pm, smashing the previous record. Sydney Airport’s mercury got up to 36.9C and Penrith’s peaked at 37.3C at 3.07pm.
The hottest temperature on record for all of October in Sydney was 38.2C, recorded on 13 October 2004.
The sweltering heat came as the NSW fire service declared nine total fire bans across the state, and raging fires in Victoria’s east forced authorities to issue evacuation warnings for residents near Briagolong in Gippsland.
A bushfire was burning out of control on Sunday afternoon north of Maffra, heading in a north-easterly direction.
Residents in Briagolong, Culloden, Moornapa, Stockdale and surrounds were told to leave immediately with people given until 6pm before it was no longer considered safe to travel. On Sunday evening the emergency alert was replaced by a “watch and act” message that told residents to “prepare to evacuate immediately”.
As of 3.50pm, another grass fire was about 4.2km southwest of Loch Sport and heading east towards the town.
Jason Heffernan, Chief officer at the Country Fire Authority said one house had been lost in the Briagolong region.
“I anticipate we won’t see the Briagolong fire becoming contained until sometime tomorrow or the next couple of days,” he said. “It is quite large now – we’re estimating around 5,000 plus hectares.”
He said they had relocated a “significant number” of campers at Crooked River, to Dargo where they were working to find a safe route home.
He said milder and cooler weather in the area on Monday will be replaced with fire conditions on Tuesday, so the blaze may not be contained until the middle of the week.
In Sydney, rugby league fans endured a sweltering afternoon at the grand final double header, as the temperature at Sydney Olympic Park climbed past 35C.
Drinks breaks were introduced for the state championships, won by South Sydney over the Brisbane Tigers 42-22. That match kicked off at 1.20pm.
However, the NRLW grand final between Newcastle and the Gold Coast went ahead without drinks breaks after the NRL’s readings of heat stress declined shortly after 3pm.
There were strong winds recorded at Sydney Olympic Park, with gusts above 50km/h.
The teams have been provided with additional coolers, bags of ice, misting fans and slushie machines in the dressing rooms to help handle the heat.
The surging temperatures come after the Bureau of Meteorology declared an El Niño climate pattern in mid-September.
A study led by CSIRO scientists found in May this year that global heating from greenhouse gas emissions had likely been making El Niños and La Niñas more frequent and severe since the 1960s.
In Australia, the risk of intense fire weather has already risen since 1900 “by more than a factor of four”, according to scientists, with bushfire crisis conditions projected to be eight times more likely if global heating reaches 2C.
Australia’s climate has warmed by an average 1.47C since records began in 1910.
• With additional reporting by Jack Snape
