Bureau warns of a widespread, severe heatwave this week

27/11/2012

The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of a widespread, severe heatwave expected to affect large parts of inland Australia.

Assistant Director Weather Services, Alasdair Hainsworth, said a large, hot air mass from northern Australia is being drawn southeastwards by a slow-moving, low pressure trough.

“Excessive heat is moving slowly eastwards, driving up temperatures in central, southern and eastern Australia,” said Mr Hainsworth.

“We haven’t seen an early season, prolonged heatwave like this since November 2009, which was a record hot month for Australia.

“The past two summers have been relatively mild and humid as a result of the wetter and cooler conditions typical during La Niña years, when greater cloud cover and higher than average rainfall can be expected.

“This spring neutral conditions have returned, pointing toward generally warmer weather – indeed we have already seen temperatures of 45 degrees [Celsius] in South Australia this week.

“Another concern is the amount of vegetation following two wet years, which has led to high fuel loads that are now starting to dry out and raise concerns about increased bushfire risk. Fast moving grassfires are of particular concern,” said Mr Hainsworth.

Broadly, temperatures are expected to peak in the mid 40s over inland South Australia, western New South Wales and northern Victoria on Thursday. Temperatures will remain in the high 30s and low 40s through the weekend for large parts of New South Wales and the Queensland border region.

Extreme heat events, such as this one, have wide ranging impacts across agricultural and horticultural sectors, infrastructure and transport, and not least human health and safety.

The Bureau has been providing advice through its federal and state emergency services and public sector partnerships to prepare for the onset of this heatwave and its likely impacts.