SYDNEY – Large swathes of Australia on March 9 sweated through severe heatwave conditions that lifted bush fire risk in the country’s south-east.

The nation’s weather forecaster on March 9 had heatwave alerts in place for South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, warning that temperatures in some regions could go above 40 deg C.

In Victoria's capital Melbourne, a maximum temperature of 39 deg C was forecast for March 9, more than 15 deg C above the March mean, forecaster data showed. It was 31.5 deg C at 11.10am local time on March 9, the forecaster said.

“Extreme fire danger is forecast for Central and South West districts, including Melbourne and Geelong,” it said on social media platform X.

In New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, there were 19 bush and grass fires on March 9, according to the state’s Rural Fire Service agency website.

A senior meteorologist at the forecaster, Ms Sarah Scully, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that hot weather would likely continue until March 12 “when a much colder air mass and southerly change is forecast”.

Australia’s summer was gripped by an El Nino weather pattern in which unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures cause heatwaves, cyclones, droughts and wildfires.

In February, tens of thousands of people had to evacuate amid an intense heatwave and massive bush fire in Victoria, which faced its worst conditions in four years. REUTERS