Australia’s east coast is bracing for a heatwave, with at least three states set to swelter in the coming days.
Maximum temperatures are forecast to exceed 35C in parts of New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, with the Pilbara region in Western Australia also due for a scorcher.
Sydney’s Observatory Hill is set to see temperatures above 30C for four days straight, between Thursday and Sunday, for the first time in autumn in 165 years.
And while the temperature in central Sydney is expected to max out at 31C over the weekend, the mercury will rise to as high as 40C in western Sydney areas like Penrith. Liverpool is forecast to reach and 36C on Sunday.
If Penrith reaches 40C, it will be only the second time on record where there have been two 40C days in the Sydney basin during March.
Maximum temperatures above 40C will also hit parts of the Pilbara region in Western Australia as well as in central South Australia and inland NSW.
Towns such as Bourke and Marla are expecting four days in a row of temperatures above 40C, with relief expected from Monday.
Temperatures in Brisbane could hit the mid-thirties on Friday and stay in the low-thirties over Saturday and Sunday.
And with the AFL season now under way in Melbourne, temperatures are expected to be in the mid-thirties on Saturday. This would be the hottest day this late in autumn for 10 years.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a fire weather warning for the southern and central ranges in NSW and the Mortlock area in Western Australia, as well as a severe heatwave warning for south-east Queensland over the weekend.
Olenka Duma, a senior meteorologist at the BoM said there was an elevated risk of fire in NSW over the weekend, with fire danger expected to peak on Sunday.
“Over the next few days we will see that fire danger rating drop to high, but it may peak again close to extreme around those central ranges once again on Sunday,” she said.
“For this time of the year we are expecting generally these conditions to bring low intensity heatwave conditions to mostly coastal parts of NSW from [Friday] and over the weekend.”
Duma said there was potential that the fire risk may stretch out with periods of high heat continuing into winter.
“We do have a lot of grass fuel load available, so a lot of fuel available to burn, so as we have warmer temperatures, drier conditions and windy conditions, that can elevate fire risk over the winter.
“April and into early winter we are expecting generally warmer than average temperatures as well as drier conditions,” she said.
“So we can still expect to see some of these warmer days followed by a period of cooler weather over the next couple of months.”
She said the warmer temperatures were making their way across to the east from central areas of Australia.
Duma said that it was a “fairly transient” time of year for the weather, but did not attribute the heat to a potential El Niño.
“We are currently in a neutral phase with El Niño watch conditions currently forecast. At the moment, we’re not expecting El Niño to form, potentially until the end of this year, maybe next year.
