Source : Perth Now news
Early spring fire bans have been put in place as Australia’s eastern states reckon with unseasonably hot conditions for the start of the season.
Queensland Fire Department has issued local fire bans for Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley as the state comes close to shattering records for the highest temperatures seen in early September.
Brisbane was expected to experience a high of 34C on Sunday, while areas from Gladstone to the Gold Coast were likely to come a few degrees shy of breaking the record for the state’s highest recorded temperatures for the start of spring.
“It looks as though it’s close, but unless we see a real strong push of westerlies out to the coast this afternoon, they’re not likely to reach those record-breaking maximum temperatures,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Steve Hadley said.
If Brisbane reaches its predicted temperature peak, it would be the hottest September day in the city since 2019.
“It’s a bit of an all eyes on the temperatures this afternoon-type thing until that southeasterly change gets in, which is probably about 6 or 7pm tonight,” Mr Hadley said.
The state had experienced its third-warmest winter on record with temperatures 1.8C above the long-term average.
Brisbane recorded a temperature of 31.6C in the late morning, the weather bureau said, while the Ipswich suburb of Amberley recorded a peak of 35.7C in the early afternoon.
Southeast Queensland’s fire bans came a day after a similar ban was issued for the greater Sydney region as early spring temperatures soared to 33C in the NSW capital.
Maximum temperatures across the city during the first days of September matched the midsummer average of 26.4C, warmer than any other start to spring since observations began.
Severe weather warnings were in place for southeastern Australia over the weekend as damaging winds fuelled the hot conditions.
Jumping castles were picked up by strong winds in two separate incidents in NSW and Victoria on Saturday.
Two children were treated for head injuries at a scene in Banksia, in Sydney’s south, before being transported to hospital.
An infant with minor injuries was also hospitalised, while a woman was treated at the scene.
Two children in Mount Duneed, near Geelong in Victoria’s south-west, were hospitalised after the jumping castle they were using was lifted into the air.
Temperatures are expected to drop in the coming days across both NSW and Queensland.
