Extreme weather conditions are lingering across parts of Australia as crews fight to contain bushfires in multiple states.
Severe heatwave warnings are in place in parts of New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Dangerous fire conditions are expected to continue across parts of eastern Australia as forecast dry lightning risks new blazes.
Heatwave conditions across the country
Severe heatwave conditions in NSW span eastern parts of the state and extending from the Hunter region to the south coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology warned temperatures were expected to rise quickly on Saturday, peaking at 39C in the Sydney CBD but above 40C in the western suburbs.
“We are seeing that heat building over a couple of days,” Christie Johnson, a BoM senior meteorologist, said. “Often the third day is the most dangerous day for heatwave conditions.”
The hot, dry, and windy conditions have pushed fire danger ratings to extreme in several districts, including Sydney, the Hunter and the Illawarra, prompting the Rural Fire Service to issue total fire bans for many areas.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
Nationally, severe heatwave warnings are in place for parts of north-western Queensland and the NT, while extreme heatwave warnings in WA cover the Kimberley, Pilbara and northern interior.
Bushfires across the south-east
In Tasmania, more than a dozen homes and shacks, outbuildings and cars were damaged and two firefighters were injured fighting an out-of-control fire at Dolphin Sands on the east coast on Friday.
Crews in Tasmania are continuing to investigate its cause as they deploy air and ground tankers to contain the fire, which has burnt more than 700 hectares.
The Tasmania Fire Service said the fire at Dolphin Sands remained uncontained as of Saturday morning, with people urged not to return to the area.
Simon Pilkington, a regional chief of operations for the TFS, said the dangerous weather conditions of the past few days were expected to ease over the weekend, which would help firefighters control the fires.
“We are focusing our efforts today on the fire at Dolphin Sands,” Pilkington said. “Dolphin Sands Road remains closed and I urge people to stay away from the area while we work to make it safe.”
Some residents will be without power for a week after TasNetworks confirmed severe fire damage to dozens of power poles in the Dolphin Sands area.
But cooler temperatures and showers washing across the state on Saturday will likely bring relief to fire crews.
In NSW, an emergency warning for residents near Beni Road, outside Dubbo, was downgraded, as was the bushfire at Bulahdelah on the mid-north coast, on Friday evening after easing conditions helped firefighters gain the upper hand on the fires.
In Victoria, firefighters have contained a bushfire in Markwood, 280km north-east of Melbourne, which has affected at least three properties.
Relief expected
In NSW, relief is expected to arrive on Saturday night, with a cool southerly change forecast to sweep up the coast overnight and reach Sydney early Sunday morning.
“It’s going to remain hot in north-eastern NSW but the rest of the state will see a much cooler day tomorrow,” Johnson said.
But damaging wind gusts and thunderstorms are possible across central and eastern NSW on Saturday afternoon, carrying an increased risk of dry lightning igniting new fires.
Victoria and Tasmania are experiencing a cold front with much cooler temperatures, showers, isolated thunderstorms and even possible snow as low as 700 metres over Tasmania by Saturday night. A severe weather warning has been issued for the Eastern Alps in Victoria.
Temperatures are expected to ease on Sunday.
Extreme and unstable weather was a harbinger for what Australians could expect this summer, senior BoM meteoteorologist Dean Narramore told the ABC on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, we’re going to see more of this,” he said. “A cool change comes through for most of NSW and southern Australia through Sunday, Monday. The heat builds further across northern Australia as we get into earlier mid-next week … and will return to much of the country late next week.
“We’re in that cycle now with heat continuing to move around the country.”
