‘Catastrophic:’ Record-breaking heat bringing extreme conditions, catastrophic fire danger moves east
Record-breaking temperatures are heading east in Western Australia, bringing extreme heatwaves and catastrophic fire conditions across the country’s south-east that are expected to continue into next week.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather update after temperatures reached 47.9C at Carnarvon in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region on Thursday.
“This is a January record for that area,” meteorologist Christie Johnson said.
Conditions on the west coast are expected to cool from Friday, but a trough is expected to move inland and cause temperatures to rise into the mid-forties.
The heat will hit eastern parts of Western Australia before moving into South Australia and continuing eastwards on Saturday, dragged by a cold front over the Southern Ocean.
“This will create a lot of heat over South Australia, Victoria and NSW, with 40C forecast for Melbourne and 42C for Adelaide,” Ms Johnson said.
“There’s a bit of a reprieve on the south coast on Sunday but the heat isn’t going anywhere.
“It will linger inland and will also begin to redevelop in southern parts of Western Australia.”
Ms Johnson said temperatures would rebound across the western parts of South Australia, NSW and Victoria, with a high of 43 degrees for Adelaide and 47 degrees for Mildura in early to mid next week. “This could be a record for January,” he said
“Wednesday is the hottest day for many places.
“We may see some records fall, we are expecting heat wave conditions despite all this heat.”
