By Cindy Yin
Sydney will on Friday swelter through its final scorcher of 2024, with the mercury to hit 37 degrees in the city and up to 41 degrees in the west.
Temperatures are tipped to match last week’s heatwave, with tops of 34 degrees in Bondi, 41 in Penrith, 40 in Liverpool and 39 in Parramatta. A total fire ban will be in place for the Sydney and Hunter regions and parts of northern NSW.
Braylin Lobegeir and his uncle Ben Core fish under the Yarramundi Bridge on the Nepean River.Credit: Nick Moir
“The city might be in for its hottest day this season, but it’s just another hot day for the western suburbs,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Helen Reid said.
“This will be the standard sort of dry fire weather.”
The Rural Fire Service on Thursday afternoon announced total fire bans for Greater Sydney, the Greater Hunter, Northern Slopes and North Western NSW from Friday.
Bureau of Meteorology forecast map shows predicted heat in NSW on Friday.Credit: Bureau of Meteorology
“The risk will primarily peak across NSW tomorrow – it’s the broadest area of high fire danger and extreme fire danger at this point for this week,” RFS spokesman Inspector Ben Shepherd said.
“It will be very hot and windy, and we could see in some areas that extend into Saturday, but we’ll see a slight reprieve in that fire risk, probably come Monday.
“We’re seeing at least NSW definitely drying out and drying out quickly because of these successive heatwaves that we’re seeing, [so the] landscape is changing. It is becoming more fire-prone.”
Reid said a high-pressure system sweeping through the city would bring cooler, more stable temperatures in the final days of 2024.
“Once that cold change is moved through, we’ll actually be under a ridge of high pressure for a few days, and that’ll keep everything stable, and it won’t allow those temperatures to jump straight back up again. We’ll be in for a couple of days of a little bit of cool,” the meteorologist said.
While those temperatures will be a welcome relief, the bureau predicts a potential thunderstorm could dampen Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.
“Sydney could see a couple of showers as well … We’re looking at the possibility of a thunderstorm on New Year’s Eve. It’ll likely be in the afternoon or evening,” Reid said.
New Year’s Eve will be cooler, forecast to peak at 29 degrees in the Sydney CBD and as high as 35 degrees in the western suburbs.
The scorcher in Sydney comes as a raging bushfire in the Grampians, Victoria, caused nearby residents to evacuate. Total fire bans are in place for the state, and fire danger ratings are extreme for all Victorian regions, except for East Gippsland.
With Jessica McSweeney
Get to the heart of what’s happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.