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.
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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.