Sydney set to swelter through hottest day in more than two years, bush fire threat looms
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The hot and dry conditions are likely to persist until Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
PHOTO: PEXELS
SYDNEY – Parts of Australia’s eastern region, including Sydney, recorded their hottest day in more than two years on Monday with temperatures hitting more than 40 deg C, raising the risk of bush fires.
Firefighters are working to contain nearly 40 bush fires across New South Wales (NSW), the home state of one-third of Australians, with crews on the ground supported by aircraft.
One fire near Mudgee, more than 250km north-west of Sydney, is at emergency warning level. Emergency crews urged residents there to seek shelter, as it was too late to leave.
Total fire bans are in place for multiple regions across most of New South Wales, while 35 public schools, mostly in inland regions, have been ordered to close due to the severe heat.
“If a fire does start, it’s going to be burning under those difficult conditions... (It’s) harder for our firefighters to get around them, and fire can spread very quickly, particularly in grassland,” Ms Angela Burford, operational officer at the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Dry thunderstorms are also possible across eastern New South Wales, leading to conditions that could see lightning ignite new fires, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The hot and dry conditions are likely to persist until Wednesday.
Penrith, a suburb in western Sydney, recorded 40.1 deg C on Monday afternoon – the hottest day since Jan 26, 2021 – while some inland towns reached nearly 41 deg C.
Australia’s east coast has been dominated by the La Nina weather phenomenon – typically associated with increased rainfall – over the last two years, which brought record rains and widespread flooding.
In 2022, Sydney recorded its highest annual rainfall since records began in 1858.
But the weather bureau last week said that its climate models suggest La Nina was “likely near its end” and neutral conditions, which are neither La Nina nor its opposite El Nino, were likely to prevail through the Southern Hemisphere in autumn. REUTERS
