Sydney has recorded its hottest August day in seven years as unusually warm and windy weather sweeps across New South Wales, triggering high fire danger.
Sydney’s temperatures shot “way up above the averages for August”, said Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). The city’s average August temperature is 17.9C.
Reaching a high of 28.1C at lunchtime, Wednesday became the hottest August day recorded in at least the past seven years, beating last year’s 27.5C recorded on 30 August at Sydney’s official weather station. The city’s record August temperature is 31.3C, set in 1995.
Strong winds were expected around the east of NSW, with a damaging wind warning in place across the Illawarra and hitting the far west of Sydney’s metropolitan region.
“It is very windy, very warm, very sunny – all the things that contribute to fire danger through traditionally our late spring and summer months,” Hines said.
Fire danger ratings were set at “high” for Sydney and the Illawarra, according to the NSW Rural Fire Service. Moderate fire danger ratings were in place for most of the rest of the state.
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“We are not really into the traditional fire weather season for New South Wales,” Hines said, adding that conditions were “quite unusual for this time of year”.
“Even at this time of year, having the warm and dry, windy weather can raise that risk of fires around the region,” he said.
Victoria Quested, spokesperson for the NSW Rural Fire Service, said it was a timely reminder that bush and grass fires could hit at any time of the year, even in winter.
“You need to be prepared year-round,” she said. “Fires don’t discriminate.”
She warned against hazard reduction burns, saying burns by landholders in recent days had been reigniting.
“You need to be monitoring and making sure that anything you do is fully extinguished,” she said. “The last thing that we would want is for a fire … to get away from you and to escalate and potentially threaten your own property or that of your neighbours.”
Australia is on track to record its hottest August on record, as a global heating-fuelled “heat engine” brings spring and summer warmth to Australia’s winter. The BoM forecasts 2024’s winter to be the nation’s fifth-warmest yet.
With strong winds expected tomorrow, moderate fire danger is forecast across parts of NSW, with the Greater Sydney & Illawarra/Shoalhaven areas forecast to reach high. Recently, #RFS crews have attended several escaped burns, so we are asking landholders to not burn tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/sdAK6OwswX
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) August 27, 2024Winds were expected to ease and temperatures to drop on Thursday, knocking high fire danger ratings back down to moderate for Sydney and the Illawarra.
However, another very windy and warm day was forecast for those same areas on Friday, which could bump fire danger ratings back up, Hines said.
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In Victoria, gusts over 80km/h hit Melbourne overnight, with damaging wind gusts shaking windows and roofs. It was forecast to continue.
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More than 10,000 Victorians were without power on Wednesday morning, and the Victorian SES said there were 600 calls for help since Tuesday afternoon, mostly related to downed trees, with 100 buildings damaged.
“A strong cold front over south-western Victoria is forecast to track eastward over the remainder of the state this morning and afternoon, producing a vigorous westerly airstream in its wake,” the BoM said in an update.
The wild weather was expected to continue, with the bureau issuing a severe weather warning that covered most of the state.
Damaging winds averaging 50-60km/h, with peak gusts around 100km/h, were likely to continue until evening over coastal areas of the south-west district and in elevated and alpine areas, the BoM said in the warning, with coastal areas including Melbourne expecting winds of 60-70km/h with the risk of 110km/h gusts.
Victorians were told to park cars undercover and away from trees and to secure loose outdoor furniture, and were also warned of damaging surf and abnormally high tides.
One social media user posted overnight on Facebook from the Gippsland region, saying “it’s so windy [here] our roof and windows are shaking”. Someone in Bairnsdale described the weather as “absolutely dreadful”, while another user in Briagolong said a tree fell and just missed their car overnight.
Hines said those winds should ease into Wednesday afternoon, in anticipation of a breezy Thursday “not quite as windy as today”.
With reporting from Australian Associated Press