Large parts of Australia are set to swelter through another heatwave in the coming days with hot weather warnings in place across the country.
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting heatwaves around Australia from Thursday, with warnings already in place in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
Low to Severe intensity heatwave conditions continue over inland WA. A Heatwave Warning is current. Heatwave conditions will be moving into parts of SE Aus from Thurs.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 15, 2023
Latest: https://t.co/vOm4XFkh6r pic.twitter.com/qdWT0mM64h
Melbourne is projected to hit 35 degrees on Thursday and Friday and extreme fire warnings are expected to be put in place for SA, NSW and the NT amid the hot conditions.
Senior meteorologist at the BoM Christie Johnson said parts of Australia were forecast to reach the high 30s and low 40s on Thursday.
Higher than average temperatures were already hitting large parts of the nation, with western parts of SA experiencing temperatures up to 12 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.
“Hot air is coming across and that will reach Victoria over Wednesday as the winds become more northerly, with maximums into the low 30s across most of the state excluding parts of Gippsland on the coast,” Johnson said.
“As that air comes closer to Victoria and winds go north-westerly ahead of the next low pressure trough, it’ll be dragging that air down from central and SA into Victoria.
“We’re going to get pretty hot temperatures on Thursday.”
Johnson said northerly winds would strengthen on Thursday, with maximum temperatures into the low 40s projected in north-west Victoria and higher than average temperatures in eastern South Australia.
Heat is building across #Victoria this week with a Severe #Heatwave Warning current for East Gippsland, including Mallacoota. Extreme heat can affect anybody. Know how to survive the heat this summer: https://t.co/J6dfWnhosS. Warning at https://t.co/Ildo3KSAXK pic.twitter.com/ixOA4mACAf
— Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) February 15, 2023
A severe heatwave warning was already in place for east, west and south Gippsland and central parts of Victoria including Mallacoota.
“Hot air will continue to move over Victoria and south-west NSW on Friday before a cool change reaches Melbourne in mid-afternoon.
“For most of the state the trough will come in late enough that it’ll still get well and truly into the 30s on Friday if not low 40s into the north.
“With this heat combined with strong winds around these troughs coming through it could be fire weather.”
Johnson said the heatwave conditions were compounded by hot overnight temperatures lingering in the low 20s.
For much of the south-east, the heatwave will cool off over the weekend however it’s projected to linger in inland parts of Australia’s east, including central and northern NSW and in northern Western Australia.
A tropical low over Gulf waters and an active monsoon trough continue to bring widespread rain, squally showers and thunderstorms to much of the Top End, Gulf of Carpentaria and northern Cape York Peninsula.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 14, 2023
Latest: https://t.co/XNskUnVW0M pic.twitter.com/CFg0wJtVS0
Heavy rain and severe thunderstorms are expected in some areas throughout the week, with minor to moderate flood warnings for still-drenched parts of central and western Queensland.
Because the catchments are still recovering from previous heavy rainfall, riverine flooding is possible around the Rockhampton region.
Thunderstorms could also arise in the north-eastern NSW Northern Rivers region from Wednesday.
