Sydney is set to sizzle through its hottest day in more than two years, with temperatures forecast to reach 38C on Monday and authorities warning of increased health and fire risks in parts of New South Wales.
Temperatures will exceed 40C in some inland parts of the state, particularly in the north-west. Bourke is set for a maximum of 41C on Monday.
A heatwave warning is in place for Sydney and much of the north-east coast of NSW until Wednesday. The warning is due to the spike in temperatures compared with recent weather patterns, meaning people have not had a chance to gradually acclimatise to rising temperatures, as well as the fact that it is expected to remain hot during nights.
Sydney temperatures are not expected to drop below 21C on Monday. On Tuesday, a top of 34C is expected with a minimum of 22C, while on Wednesday a maximum of 30C is forecast with a minimum of 19C.
Sarah Scully, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said heatwaves pose a safety risk. “The minimum temperatures are almost more important, because they allow the body to recover. So if the body can’t recover, that’s where you encounter heat stress.”
Maximum temperatures for Sydney are expected to drop into the mid-20s from Thursday.
The NSW rural fire service is warning that the state faces the broadest area of high and extreme fire danger since the Black Summer bushfires.
Thirty-four schools closed their doors on Monday in the areas facing the highest risk of fires.
Ben Shepherd of the RFS said the danger is predominantly west of the Great Dividing Ranges, “really stretching from the Southern Ranges right up through the Lower and Central West Plains, right up towards the north-western part of the state”.
“It’s probably the broadest areas of risk since that 19/20 fire season,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd said this was also the first time since the Black Summer bushfires that high levels of fire danger were expected to continue for a prolonged period, until at least Wednesday, with relief only expected later in the week.
Seven total fire bans have been declared across the Hunter, Central Ranges and Lower Central West Plains which are facing extreme fire danger, as well as the Southern Ranges, North Western, Northern Slopes and Upper Central West Plains where the danger is high.
The hot conditions are due to winds turning westerly, the result of the passage of a series of cold fronts across the far south-east of Australia.
Westerly winds are notoriously hot because they carry “a hot dry continental wind from inland Australia” into the east coast, Scully said.
“When those winds are strong, they keep sea breeze at bay, which allows temperatures to get hotter,” Scully said.
As a result, normal discrepancies in heat between Sydney’s east and west are expected to be less pronounced in coming days. Monday’s forecast maximum of 38C is the same for the metropolitan area as for Penrith in the far west of the city, while the maximum for Parramatta is 37C.
Sydneysiders who have experienced three consecutive years of the La Niña weather system, with associated wetter and cooler conditions, will not have felt such hot and dry heat in some time. “It might feel a little unusual,” Scully said.
The last time Sydney’s daily maximum reached 38C was on 26 January 2021.
Scully said authorities are expecting elevated fire danger across parts of NSW due to the hot and dry conditions, with risks to peak on Tuesday, when the fire danger will be extreme. She said residents should have their fire plans ready.
Additional reporting by Natasha May
