Australian
media is capable to acknowledging climate change. The New Zealand
media dare not mention the elephant in the room.
Australia's
NSW east coast now in 'severe' fire danger as mercury soars
2
November, 2014
Drier
than expected conditions in Australia have put Sydney and much
of the New South Wales (NSW) east coast in severe fire danger, as the
city experiences a "low intensity heatwave" on Friday
afternoon.
A
large mass of hot air moving across the state is driving temperatures
up towards 40 degrees in some parts, fanned by strong winds above
30km/h.
At
the peak, the mercury had hit 38.9 degrees at Sydney Airport, 37.6
degrees in Camden, 37.1 degrees at Observatory Hill and 38.8 degrees
at Horsley Park. Statewide, White Cliffs in the far west, notched
43.3 degrees.
JAMILA
TODERAS
The
fire at Pierces Creek, near Canberra.
"The
system is now also affecting coastal areas, including Sydney, with
many areas forecast to see temperatures reach the high thirties on
Friday, following a night of significantly above-average minimums,"
the Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement.
Bureau
of Meteorology's manager of severe weather Simon Louis said such high
temperatures this early in the season meant Sydney was experiencing a
"low intensity heatwave".
NICK
MOIR
Inside
the Ku Ring Gai National Park, north of Sydney.
"One
thing that our heatwave system does take into account is people's
level of acclimatisation," he said.
"We
do see that this early in the season, people aren't as acclimatised
to the warm conditions, so we can get the heatwave classification at
these lower temperature levels."
He
said that while temperatures were high, it wouldn't be breaking any
November records - though if it had come a couple of days earlier, it
would have almost certainly broken October records.
WOLTER
PEETERS
Locals
cool off at Bents Basin in western Sydney.
The
sea breeze that usually cools down the city's eastern suburbs was
being held off by strong westerlies, so the city shouldn't expect a
cool change on Friday afternoon.
Much
of NSW including the metropolitan area can also expect warm
conditions to continue overnight, before a cool change on Saturday
morning, Louis said.
"Particularly
for Sydney, we're really not expecting this cool change to reach …
it will just get into the far south west of the state quite late [on
Friday] evening. It will be ... early morning [Saturday] until that
cooler air gets through."
Saturday
morning will be warm, with an overnight low of 24 degrees ahead of a
maximum in the city of 30 degrees.
FIRES
BURN NEAR CANBERRA AND NEWCASTLE
Firefighters
were already battling an out-of-control blaze south-west of Canberra
on Thursday night and continue to fight it today. The fire is burning
erratically at Pierces Creek, about 8km from the nearest suburb.
Early
on Friday afternoon, the fire had burnt through 114 hectares, and
nearby residents had been urged to activate their bushfire emergency
plans. Horses were being moved out of danger and one school was
evacuated as a precaution.
At
1.45pm, it remained at a watch and act level, but was burning
erratically towards the suburb of Tuggeranong. There was no threat to
property, and no evacuations have been ordered.
The
Rural Fire Service issued a Watch and Act alert about 3pm on Friday
afternoon for an out-of-control blaze burning at Freemans Waterhole
near Lake Macquarie.
The
fire was contained by about 4pm. While there's no threat to property
now, smoke is visible from the M1 and drivers are urged to take
caution.
In
the nation's capital, the Bureau is warning of wind speeds of up to
90km/h on Friday afternoon, with average wind speeds at Canberra
Airport of up to 65km/h, with a top of 30 degrees.
The
NSW Rural Fire Service raised the fire danger to severe for the
Southern Ranges, Illawarra, Greater Sydney and Hunter regions at
lunchtime on Friday. Total fire bans are in place across those
regions.
Wind
gusts are expected to reach up to 80km/h in some areas, including
Goulburn, adding to the propensity for dangerous bushfires.
"It's
important on the first real hot and windy day [of the season] people
take five minutes to discuss with their family what to do in case of
a fire," RFS Inspector Ben Sheppard told AAP.
The
RFS is keeping an eye out on a fire in the Wollemi National Park,
north-east of Rylstone. No properties are under threat, however the
blaze is expected to grow.
Multiple
small grassfires are also being reported across the state.
On
Thursday a number of areas set new maximum temperature records for
this time of year, including Goulburn (32.2), Wagga (37.6), Albury
(37.2) and Young (34.8).
The
warm spell is expected to last until the middle of next week, when
much of the state is forecast to receive some rain accompanied by
milder temperatures. Sydney may collect as much as 35 millimetres of
rain on Wednesday, the bureau predicts.
EXCEPTIONALLY
WARM
Australia
was "exceptionally warm" last month, with mean temperatures
1.83 degrees above the 1961-90 average, making it the fourth warmest
October on record, the bureau said.
Minimum
temperatures were the second warmest on record, behind only 2015.
Nationally,
rainfall was 11 per cent higher than normal for the month. NSW posted
its first above-average month of rain in 2018, collecting 10 per cent
more than usual.
Temperatures
remained on the warm side for NSW, with the state marking its third
warmest October on record for mean temperatures, with readings 2.44
degrees above average.
For
the first 10 months of 2018, NSW daytime temperatures are running at
a record high.
For
Sydney alone, average maximum temperatures were 0.7 degrees below
average, the first sub-par reading for any month since March 2012.
Minimum temperatures, though, were 1.4 degrees warmer than average,
the bureau said.
While
Sydney's October rainfall was twice the average at 167.6 millimetres,
evaporation rates were almost as high at 160.6 millimetres meaning
the rainfall deficient barely budged.
Elsewhere,
the big dry has expanded beyond NSW and Queensland, with Tasmania
recording its third-driest October on record as rainfall dived 60 per
cent below average for the month.
Victoria
was also dry, continuing its run this year of below-average monthly
rainfall totals with less than half the usual October rain. By mean
temperatures, it was also that state's fifth warmest October on
record.
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