Australia faces record high temperatures, raising fire risks

SYDNEY – Parts of Australia could see record high temperatures in the coming days as the second

major heatwave in a month

sweeps across three states, elevating wildfire risks and boosting electricity demand.

Temperatures in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia climbed towards records in some areas on Jan 26, with the heat expected to worsen on Jan 27, said senior meteorologist Dean Narramore of the Bureau of Meteorology.

The mercury could rise to as high as 49 deg C in some regions, he said.

“It’s some dangerous weather shaping up tomorrow across south-eastern parts of the country,” Mr Narramore said in an interview. “The combination of hot, dry, windy weather will mean that any fires that do get going, or are going right now, (are) likely to become uncontrollable and uncontainable.”

Australia’s south-east is facing the most prolonged heatwave conditions since the devastating Black Saturday wildfires in 2009, Mr Narramore said.

Those blazes, the country’s worst, killed 173 people in Victoria.

Extreme weather in recent weeks has

sparked multiple wildfires

– some that are still burning – with the authorities warning that hot conditions could elevate the fire danger to “extreme” levels in parts of South Australia and Victoria.

Melbourne was blanketed with thick smoke on the morning of Jan 25 from a blaze burning out of control in the Otway Ranges, south-west of the city. BLOOMBERG