Extreme fire danger risk for south-east Australia
Temperatures and wind speeds likely to pick up rapidly around South Australia and Victoria, throughout the day on Thursday February 29, 2024.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Extreme to catastrophic fire dangers being driven by a cold front moving
00:04 through southeastern parts of the country. We can see that here in the
00:08 satellite image with this white area showing a cloud band moving into western
00:12 parts of Victoria and that brought a cool change earlier this morning to Adelaide.
00:16 We had a very hot night there when most of the night was above 30 degrees but
00:20 that cool change is now starting to move into far western parts of Victoria. Now
00:24 there's two impacts of this cloud band. One, it's going to limit temperatures
00:28 during the late morning and early afternoon period into those high 20s to
00:32 low 30s but once that does start to move further eastwards and this clearer air
00:36 over South Australia moves over Victoria we're likely to see temperatures rise
00:40 rapidly and also the wind speeds pick up as well and that's of concern for our
00:45 areas that are already the ongoing fires to the northwest of Ballarat and because
00:49 of these hot dry windy conditions extreme to catastrophic fire dangers are
00:54 forecast through much of eastern South Australia and also parts of western and
00:58 central Victoria including this red area here where we're expecting catastrophic
01:03 fire dangers through parts of the Wimmera. So what these colours mean, if
01:07 you live in these areas, that if fires do get going or are currently going to the
01:12 northwest of Ballarat, fires will become uncontrollable and uncontainable during
01:17 this afternoon and evening during these hot and gusty winds. Then that wind shift
01:21 late afternoon and evening could cause further concerns for any ongoing fires
01:25 and dry lightning could also ignite new fires. So please if you live in the
01:30 western and central parts of Victoria, it is important to stay up to date the
01:34 latest forecasts and warnings and listen to all advice from your local emergency
01:38 services. Now let's time this front out during this afternoon. We're going to see
01:42 it start moving into the far western parts of Victoria around that lunchtime
01:46 hour with all that cloud and possible showers ahead of that and while the wind
01:51 isn't cool initially, we will see further cooler winds further back. Now as that
01:55 front continues to move slowly eastwards by the mid-afternoon hour, we'll start to
02:00 see that wind shift moving into western parts of the state with temperatures
02:04 really starting to pick up ahead of and near that change. Then as we move into
02:08 the late afternoon and evening, we'll start to see that change move into
02:12 central parts of the state including around the Melbourne metropolitan area
02:16 in that late evening into the early overnight period. Then as we move through
02:20 overnight tonight, we'll see that front move through eastern Victoria and parts
02:24 of Tasmania bringing those gusty winds and cooler conditions. Then our focus
02:28 tomorrow shifts into New South Wales where we see temperatures pick up into
02:32 the high 30s to low 40s including around the Sydney area where we could get
02:36 temperatures there into the mid 30s. While note through parts of Tasmania and
02:40 much of southern Victoria and South Australia, temperatures anywhere from 10
02:44 to 12 degrees cooler than what they are today. But how much rainfall are we
02:49 expecting with this front? Well very little if any. So we're looking as that
02:53 moves into western parts of Victoria later today, so there's light areas of
02:58 blue there, could see some isolated showers and thunderstorms but most of
03:03 that won't be reaching the ground and that's why we're concerned about dry
03:06 thunderstorms in this area that could ignite new fires. But as we move into the
03:11 late afternoon and evening, that threat will move across the state but more
03:15 maybe widespread shower activity through parts of Tasmania but note little if
03:18 any across Victoria and New South Wales. But as we move into Thursday we could
03:23 see more widespread activity. So for those that live in western and central
03:27 parts of the state or if you know anyone that does, make sure you stay up to date
03:31 with the latest forecasts and warnings via our website, app and social media and
03:35 listen to all advice from your local emergency services.
03:40 (gentle music)