New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia face risky weather conditions

ABC NEWS (Australia)

While the favourable weather conditions are assisting firefighting efforts in Victoria. Hot weather is sweeping into parts of New South Wales sparking high fire risks and risky conditions.

Transcript

00:00It's much cooler across Victoria today and that's after that cool change moved through

00:06overnight.

00:07And to give you an idea of how much those temperatures have changed, yesterday afternoon

00:10the temperature across the Grampians was sitting around 35 or 36 degrees, this afternoon it's

00:14around 21 or 22 degrees, so much cooler conditions, really favouring those firefighting efforts.

00:20We did see a couple of showers overnight, unfortunately we didn't see anything more

00:23than a millimetre across the southern flanks of the Grampians and nothing for the northern

00:27part of the Grampians itself.

00:28But it is still quite windy today and into the afternoon as well with those westerly

00:31winds blowing at around 30 to 40 kilometres an hour and so we do still have high fire

00:36dangers across western Victoria and also central parts of the state as well.

00:39So we do remind communities to stay up to date with the latest information from the

00:43Bureau and the Vic Emergency website and as always follow all advice and emergency services

00:47as this fire threat does continue.

00:49But over the next few days we'll continue to see these cool conditions persist, we've

00:53got another cold front coming through tomorrow, that will mean the winds will strengthen slightly

00:57tomorrow afternoon, but there is a better chance of more rainfall tomorrow, so we could

01:00see between 1 to 5 millimetres across western parts of Victoria and we will see those cool

01:05conditions continuing before a little bit of warming early next week.

01:09Now let's turn to New South Wales, where it looks like Sydney will be the capital city

01:12of the hottest temperature today, while we've got total fire bans across parts of the state,

01:18what's the latest there?

01:19Yeah, so the heat has pushed across into eastern New South Wales and south east Queensland

01:25today.

01:26Sydney, as you mentioned, will be the hottest capital city in the country.

01:28At lunchtime today it was already 34 degrees in the city and 36 for western Sydney, so

01:33it is already the hottest day of the summer so far for Sydney, but also very high temperatures

01:37through the Illawarra and also up into the Hunter, and with those hot and dry winds we

01:41are also seeing extreme fire danger for Sydney, the Illawarra and also the northwest slopes.

01:46And through today it is quite unsettled as well, so we will see the chance of some more

01:50thunderstorms developing across eastern New South Wales today, there is a risk of dry

01:54lightning as well as damaging winds and large hail, and we will see that threat of thunderstorms

01:58sketching all the way up to the Hunter, mid north coast and also the northern Tablelands,

02:02where there is also the risk of heavy rainfall.

02:05Thankfully though, it's just looking like the one hot day in Sydney, and that's because

02:08there is a cool change currently making its way up the east coast, so if you're in Wollongong

02:12or the Illawarra, we can expect that cool change to come through at 4 or 5 o'clock this

02:16afternoon, and in Sydney that southerly buster is due any time between 6 and 7pm, and then

02:21pushing up the east coast.

02:22So we are expecting a much cooler day tomorrow for Sydney, but the heat does linger a little

02:26bit longer for northeast New South Wales, and for Queensland, Brisbane's peak of the

02:29heat doesn't come until tomorrow.

02:32And Jonathan, total fire bans across South Australia have been removed for the first

02:36time in two days, but they're not quite out of the woods yet with their bushfire situation,

02:40are they?

02:41Yes, so thankfully also very much cooler across South Australia today, just 22 degrees in

02:46Adelaide.

02:47We are also looking at some cooler days across South Australia, and that cold front pushing

02:51through tomorrow.

02:52Unfortunately, a lot of that rainfall won't make it as far anywhere further north than

02:57some of the southeastern areas of South Australia, and certainly not expecting any rainfall further

03:01north to places like Adelaide and also the mid-north, and so we also have to see conditions

03:05warming up again early next week.

03:07The sea temperature is climbing up into the mid to high 20s, also potentially pushing

03:11the low 30s for some parts of South Australia, but thankfully not expecting to see those

03:15very strong winds, and so we're not expecting any extreme fire dangers for South Australia

03:20in the outlook, even though it will be quite dry.

03:22And lastly, Jonathan, just very quickly, the Sydney to Hobart race is on, as you know,

03:26and it could be a tight one.

03:27So what are the weather conditions looking like for those who are competing?

03:30Yes, of course, extremely tragic circumstances overnight, and so our thoughts do go out to

03:36those impacted and also the first responders.

03:38We still are seeing very strong winds right along the southeast coast of Australia.

03:42There are still marine wind warnings for strong to gale force winds today, and they

03:45will continue into tomorrow right down the Tasmanian coast, very strong westerly winds,

03:50and that's still that southerly change pushing up the New South Wales coast.

03:52So very, very strong winds all the way into Hobart tonight and continuing into tomorrow as well.

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