Extreme, catastrophic fire danger for parts of Victoria and South Australia

Australian Community Media

Arid air and high temperatures will hit parts of southeastern Australia, with a catastrophic fire danger rating in place for Victoria's Wimmera region on Wednesday 28 February, and Thursday 29 February 2024.

Transcript

00:00 Extreme to catastrophic fire dangers. Forecasts of parts of South Australia

00:05 and Victoria on Wednesday. We can see that here looking at the fire danger

00:09 ratings. While it looks pretty benign today with only moderate to high fire

00:12 dangers, tomorrow is our focus as we see hot, dry and windy conditions combined

00:18 with temperatures in the high 30s to low 40s and very dry air. And because of that

00:23 we see extreme fire dangers for much of eastern South Australia including the

00:28 Mount Lofty Ranges and for much of western and central Victoria. We're also

00:32 forecasting catastrophic fire dangers in the Wimmera District. That means if any

00:37 fires do get going they will be uncontrollable and uncontainable. So very

00:42 dangerous conditions setting up through not only here but much of eastern South

00:46 Australia and western and central Victoria as these hot, dry, windy

00:50 conditions ahead of a cold front bring these extreme to catastrophic fire

00:54 dangers. Now there's two things driving that. Firstly it's the heat. The focus

00:58 today of that heat is through South Australia. We're seeing temperatures in

01:02 the low to mid 40s, maybe reaching the high 40s in western parts of South

01:06 Australia. So do note going at 45 degrees today. But notice many inland areas in

01:11 the high 30s. Then that heat shifts into New South Wales and Victoria on

01:15 Wednesday as those northerly winds drag down that heat. Looking at 44 at Mildura,

01:20 38 at Melbourne and not so hot but still 31 degrees in Hobart. So some areas

01:25 around Melbourne could approach 40 degrees as well. Then as we move into

01:29 Thursday the heat will focus into New South Wales, Sydney looking at 37,

01:34 approaching 40 degrees in those suburbs. So it's this heat combined with that

01:38 strong and gusty winds and that's all thanks to a cold front moving through

01:42 South Australia today and tonight, bringing a cool change to Sojourner later

01:46 this evening. And then it'll move across the state overnight, bringing those cooler

01:51 conditions to Adelaide in the early morning hours of Wednesday morning. Then

01:55 slowly moving into western parts of the state around lunchtime and they can see

01:59 that really hot air being dragged down out ahead of that, but those cooler west

02:03 to southwesterly winds in behind it. Then as we move through the day we'll see the

02:07 heat really starting to build through parts of Victoria and inland New South

02:10 Wales, with many areas at or above 40 degrees. Then a cool change approaching

02:15 central parts of Victoria, including the Melbourne area around that 8 and 9 o'clock

02:19 time frame. And then we'll see that front moving to Tasmania and eastern parts of

02:24 Victoria as we move through Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday

02:28 morning, with the heat then focusing through New South Wales on Thursday. Now

02:32 rainfall wise, little if any is forecast with this system as we're tapping into

02:37 some very dry continental air across the southeast. So note you can see here

02:41 almost no rainfall expected with this front as it moves through South

02:44 Australia. So a fair bit of cloud but little if any rainfall that's going to

02:48 be mostly concentrated offshore. Then as we move through the day on Wednesday a

02:52 similar story, but note we just do see a few little areas of shower and

02:57 thunderstorm activity. So we could see some high bay showers and dry

03:00 thunderstorms developing through western and southwestern parts of Victoria on

03:04 Wednesday. And that's dangerous because this could start more fires and we

03:08 already know there's some dangerous fires already ongoing through parts of

03:11 Victoria. So that's something we're going to be watching closely tomorrow. Then

03:15 we'll see that front continue to move into central parts of the state as we

03:18 move through the day, but note very little rainfall through Victoria, though

03:21 we could see some showers mostly on the west coast through parts of Tasmania. So

03:26 the dangerous fire weather day on the way across southeastern parts of the

03:29 country, it is vital that you stay up to date with the latest forecasts and

03:33 warnings via our website, app and social media. And if any fires do get going,

03:38 listen to all advice from emergency services.

03:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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