Strong winds and spring heatwave fan bush fires in Australia’s south-east
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Parts of Australia are sweltering in an unusual five-day burst of spring heat, forecast to last until Wednesday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SYDNEY – Strong winds and a rare, intense heatwave in early spring
More than 600 firefighters and emergency personnel were battling to control 68 fires burning across New South Wales (NSW) state as at Wednesday morning, with 17 not yet contained, NSW Rural Fire Services said in its latest update.
“With hot, dry and windy conditions forecast throughout the day, the Greater Sydney Region... will experience extreme fire danger, while several other areas will experience high fire danger,” the fire services said.
Parts of Australia are sweltering in an unusual five-day burst of spring heat, forecast to last until Wednesday, pushing temperatures well above the September average.
Total fire bans are in place for large swathes of New South Wales, with Sydney on Wednesday set to post its fifth consecutive daytime maximum temperature of more than 30 deg C in September, which is a record. But a cold front from Thursday will push temperatures down to the low 20s.
Residents of a popular holiday town in the island state of Tasmania were told on Tuesday to move to a safer location because of an uncontrolled bush fire fuelled by strong wind gusts. There have been no reports of property damage or injuries, though more than 100 people had to sleep in their cars, the media reported.
After three years of heavy rain and frequent flooding, Australia is bracing itself for a warm and dry Southern Hemisphere spring and summer. On Tuesday, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology declared that an El Nino weather pattern, typically associated with wildfires and droughts, was under way.
Fire crews have rushed to conduct hazard-reduction burns in Sydney’s west to prepare for the looming bush fire season, which the authorities have said could be the worst since the 2019 to 2020 “Black Summer” fires that destroyed about 24 million ha of land and killed 33 people. REUTERS
