Heatwave in Australia and New Zealand

NZ gasps while Australia burns

Blistering temperatures across the ditch have set the mercury boiling here, with 30-degree Celsius heat sweeping the country this weekend.

Stuff

6 January, 2013

Hot air from the heat wave blanketing Australia has leaked out over the Tasman Sea and is expected to make its way up the North Island today.

Yesterday delivered sweltering temperatures in the lower South Island, as Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill reached 30-plus highs while Alexandra was expected to climb to 33C in the late afternoon.

"There's a stagnant pool of really warm weather sitting over Australia, and a little filament of that warm air extends to us," Victoria University climate scientist James Renwick said.

"That warm air is just running over the country."

The MetService forecast for today predicts Auckland would reach a high of 27C, and Wellington and Christchurch would get to 24C.

Renwick said Australia's temperatures affected New Zealand only from time-to-time, if the wind was heading the right way.

Bushfires broke out in the scorching heat in Tasmania yesterday, destroying houses and leaving some towns cut off.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said it was possible Australia could reach a new national average highest temperature at the weekend. The current national average high is 40.14C, set in 1972.

"We think this record could easily fall on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday based on the current forecasts," a bureau forecaster, Julie Evans, said.

"That's the average for the entire country and taking in parts that are even cooler."

Some parts of Australia were forecast to top 50C.

SEEKING SHELTER

Thousands of Tasmanians have spent another anxious night in evacuation centres as bushfires burn out of control throughout the state’s southeast.

Over a dozen fires — including one that destroyed some 100 homes and buildings on the Tasman Peninsula — continue to burn out of control, but all emergency warning levels had been removed by Saturday evening.

Watch and act alerts remain in place for the massive Forcett blaze, as well as a fire at Lake Repulse, north of Hobart, which has consumed almost 10,000 hectares.

A bushfire near Bicheno, on the state’s east coast, was still menacing the town on Sunday, but the Tasmanian Fire Service said there was no immediate threat to the community.

Thousands remained stranded because of the fire threat, staying in evacuation centres, including at the Port Arthur historic site, on Saturday night.

Recreational and commercial vessels were used to bring in thousands of meals and other essential supplies, and to evacuate people on Friday and Saturday.

A crew of 65 Victorian firefighters is expected to arrive in Tasmania on Sunday.

Property losses on the Tasman Peninsula have been significant, with 30 per cent of the buildings in the small community of Dunalley destroyed, including the school and police station.

At Connellys Marsh, 40 per cent of the buildings are gone, along with three houses at Copping and several at Primrose Sands.

Twenty houses have been lost around Murdunna and there are reports of more at Eaglehawk Neck.

No deaths or serious injuries have been confirmed, despite conditions comparable to 1967 when 2000 homes and 62 lives were lost.

BUSHFIRE ARREST

A woman has been charged with deliberately starting a bushfire in Melbourne’s southeast.

The 18-year-old was arrested at the scene of the fire, which was burning on an embankment near Warrigal Road, at Ashwood, about 9.45pm (NZT 11.45pm) on Saturday.

Emergency crews quickly extinguished the blaze.

The woman has been charged with intentionally causing a bushfire and recklessly endangering life, and was bailed to appear in Dandenong Magistrates Court on April 29.

Police are also treating as suspicious a small scrub fire at Sebastopol, near Ballarat.

Meanwhile, fire crews battled to contain several bushfires around the state.

A Country Fire Authority spokesman said a major fire at Kentbruck, in the state’s southwest, was likely to be brought under control on Sunday.

The fire, which began in a pine plantation, has burned over 2700 hectares and is creating a haze visible throughout western Victoria.

The spokesman said a fire burning near Ensay, in east Gippsland, was brought under control on Saturday afternoon.