Residents in New South Wales are bracing for a severe heatwave with concerns soaring temperatures may cause power outages.
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00:00It's going to be hot, hot, hot, particularly in western Sydney where there'll be consecutive
00:07days, five of them, where Penrith will reach 35 degrees or more.
00:13These kind of maximums have never been recorded in that part of Sydney in the spring.
00:17There's an intense heatwave coming through the city, particularly affecting the western
00:21suburbs as I mentioned.
00:23In Sydney's east, where I am, it's still quite warm here and we can expect to see temperatures
00:28around the high 20s and low 30s throughout the daytime.
00:32We've caught up with a few people around here, just figuring out how exactly people can stay
00:38cool.
00:39Drink lots of water, eat lots of fruit and yeah, just keep hydrated really.
00:44Oh jeez, I'm a big swimmer so I'll be spending a lot of time at the beach.
00:49Jump in the water and home for an early dinner, no problems.
00:53The Australian energy market operator has said that its level of reserves, this is the
00:58energy it goes through to ensure that if there is high demand on the grid that they can indeed
01:03manage the workloads and the loads across the grid to ensure there aren't widespread
01:08blackouts.
01:09They have picked up and that the reserves as a result of transmission outages that were
01:14planned won't be going ahead and that means that it's just a little bit more reliable.
01:19Now, as I mentioned earlier, these are hot temperatures and in a few pockets we are going
01:24to see record temperatures or at least record consistent temperatures in parts of Sydney
01:29but it is worth noting the Bureau of Meteorology speaking around the entire state, so not just
01:34in Sydney but in other parts including the northern and eastern inland as well as the
01:39southern highlands of New South Wales have said we're not likely to see peak temperatures
01:44or record temperatures but it's the persistent heat that is what makes this such a tricky
01:49weather system.
01:50Heatwaves are more about the persistent nature of heat and we are continuing to see those
01:55warm, warm days in combination with very warm nights as well and that's when we really start
01:59to see it have an impact on your health and on the body.
02:03And so of course with these additional heatwave systems across New South Wales and particularly
02:08Sydney where we'll see extreme heatwave conditions, the advice really as always is to take action
02:13that can keep you cool, whether it's drawing the blinds in your home, having aircon or
02:17fan units if they're available and if not going to public places like libraries where
02:22there is cooling accessible to the public and to of course if you know younger people
02:28or are elderly or younger yourself to really monitor conditions and we've certainly heard
02:32that a lot from people today that they'll be checking in on their friends and family
02:35to make sure they're going okay in the meantime.