A heatwave across much of the Northern Territory will reach emergency levels later this week, as communities across northern Australia struggle through sweltering conditions.
It comes after a new nationwide alert system for extreme heat conditions came into effect earlier this year, based off bushfire warnings.
The three levels are heatwave advice, watch and act, and emergency.
Much of the NT is likely to reach the most severe level later this week.
On Tuesday NT Health released a statement saying a watch-and-act alert had been declared for every region of the Northern Territory except the Tiwi Islands and areas surrounding Alice Springs.
"These conditions will continue with extreme heat forecast in the Arnhem, Carpentaria, and Gregory districts from Wednesday 7 December expanding to also include the Barkly, Daly and Tanami districts from Thursday 8 December 2022," the statement said.
The statement said a level three emergency declaration was possible later in the week.
The remote communities of Lajamanu and Daguragu as well as Mataranka are expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius on Saturday.
Many other remote communities across the territory are forecast to reach temperatures between 40C to 45C between Friday and Sunday.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior climatologist Greg Browning told the ABC NT Country Hour this was the result of a "suppressed" weather system over northern Australia, with no relief expected for "at least for the next week and a bit".
He said one potential cause of the hot and dry weather was the breakdown of the Indian Ocean Dipole, which this year had been favouring wetter weather over northern and eastern Australia.
"We may be just seeing a re-adjustment as that influence just dissipates and the other ones sort of take over a bit more," he said.
He said forecasters were still watching for the monsoon to "get its act together" in the coming weeks.
"I think it's just a bit of a lull. We are still on track for reasonably wet conditions [and] the prospect for above average cyclone activity is still going," he said.
Forecasters predicting relief by next week
ABC meteorologist Tom Saunders said the hot weather was triggered by a low pressure system which pushed across the Australian continent last week, dragging moisture away from northern Australia.
That low pressure system brought with it plenty of rain to northern Australia, creating a "pseudo-monsoon", but has since dried out much of the Top End.
At this time of year, when the sun is directly overhead Australia's north, Mr Saunders said the lack of cloud and rain meant the atmosphere was being heated up more and more with each passing day, helping ramp up heatwave conditions as the week wears on.
He said there were four different ways that Australia was cooled during summer months, none of which are happening at the moment.
"Often you have cloud cover which reduces the amount of incoming sunlight, you'll have rainfall that leads to evaporative cooling and so the air temperature drops from that, you might winds blowing in from the tropical ocean," he said.
"Or you may have winds blowing up from southern Australia which can bring cooler air.
"None of those four are happening right now."
Mr Saunders said the arrival of north-westerly winds from next Monday would bring more moisture into the tropics, helping bring down temperatures and encouraging more rainfall.
In the meantime, he said maximum temperatures would peak at 7C above the average and warned minimum temperatures would also be elevated.
Territorians advised to prevent heat stress
Aboriginal Medical Services Alliances NT (AMSANT) chief executive John Paterson urged people to take precautions to ensure they avoided heat stress, particularly in crowded remote housing.
"It's serious stuff, there's enough evidence now and research that heat does impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals," he said.
"I worry for those in remote communities, rural communities and even urban communities where they don't have the standard of housing, cooling devices, fans."
A statement from NT Health advised people to take their own steps to deal with the difficult conditions.
The department suggested that people:
- Stay cool in air-conditioning where possible or seek out shady areas with a breeze
- Drink cold or iced water
- Decrease physical activity
- Wear lightweight, light-coloured, loose clothes and a wide-brimmed hat
- Get into cold water or apply cold substances to the body
- Use fans and damp towels if you don’t have air-conditioning
NT Health said symptoms of heat stress included tiredness and lethargy, a headache, dizziness and fainting, confusion and poor decision-making, muscle cramps, feeling thirsty and urinating less often.
