Alarming map reveals blistering heat set to hit Australia
Summer may arrive early as Australia braces itself for an abnormally hot run to the end of the year.
“The temperature outlook for October to December suggest that days are very likely to remain warmer than average across Australia,” Bureau of Meteorology Senior Climatologist Dr Andrew Watkins revealed.
An alarming heat map released by BoM shows almost all of Australia will swelter through a hot and dry remainder of spring.
Only parts of Victoria’s coastline, a small section of Queensland’s Far North coastline, Adelaide’s southeast coastline and Tasmania’s west are predicted to have median temperatures.
“The month of October has a high chance of being drier than average for virtually the entire country. This also means there’s an increased chance of early heatwaves and windy days will see higher fire danger,” Dr Watkins added.
The forecast will come as a bitter blow to farmers across NSW and Queensland who continue to struggle through a devastating period of drought.
A recent ‘rain bomb’ which engulfed parts of the NSW coastline failed to have any noticeable impact on the surrounding drought-affected areas.
The predicted conditions will also be a blow to communities close to the NSW-Queensland border which have been plagued by an early introduction to bushfire season.
The NSW Rural Fire service said on Tuesday five ongoing fires in the north of the state could take months to contain.
The intense heat looks set to kick in as early as the end of the week, with parts of Sydney set for temperatures as high as 37C as a hot air mass travels across the nation from Western Australia.
In the city’s west, Penrith is set for highs of 34C on Friday and a sweltering 37C on Sunday.
South Queensland will be slightly cooler but will still break into the 30s, with the Gold Coast’s Coomera peaking at 31C on Sunday.
October is looking to start with a bang. By the end of the week a hot airmass building in WA will extend east across SA, through north west Vic & into #NSW. Above average temps are likely in Sydney Fri & Sun. Current #forecast may see Penrith hit 37 on Sun https://t.co/pXXfb826tn pic.twitter.com/zBgVulob3c
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) October 1, 2019
Brisbane will see highs of 30C at the weekend and likewise for Adelaide.
Meanwhile Melbourne’s temperature is set to reach mid-to-high 20s and Perth is forecast to experience peaks in the low 20s.
The temperatures in the build-up to summer will be about 2 to 3 degrees higher than usual. Some areas could see spikes of 10 degrees at times.
There will be some cooler than average nights however for South Australia and Victoria as well as Queensland’s mid and north coastline due to a lack of cloud cover in October.
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