By Ashleigh McMillan and Alex Crowe
Victoria’s sweltering summer conditions have finally arrived, bringing an increased fire danger to parts of the state this weekend.
Melbourne hit a top of 31 degrees on Saturday and a high of 38 is expected on Sunday, which would make it the hottest day of summer so far.
Beachgoers take the plunge at Frankston beach on Saturday.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Sunday’s scorcher is forecast to beat Melbourne’s previous summer top of 35.8 degrees, which was recorded at Avalon on December 8.
People in some parts of the state can expect their warmest day since February 2023, as the warm weather that affected Western Australia this week moves to the east of the country.
Towns along Victoria’s northern border are likely to record the state’s highest temperatures, with Mildura forecast to reach 43 degrees and Wodonga pushing 40 degrees on Sunday.
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) has declared a total fire ban for the Mallee and Wimmera regions in north-west Victoria on Sunday. The rest of Victoria is predicted to be at a high or moderate risk of fire.
CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said north-west to northeasterly winds around 25-40km/h were expected for the Mallee and the Wimmera, ahead of a south-westerly change on Sunday afternoon.
Heffernan said the forecast wind changes would likely mean challenging conditions for firefighters.
“Community members in those areas need to be alert,” he said.
Hot conditions saw firefighters battling several small fires across the state on Saturday, including bushfires just south of Traralgon, north of Ballarat, and near Wodonga.
Morgan Pumpa from the Bureau of Meteorology said with the blistering temperatures and windy conditions, much of the state would be facing an elevated fire danger risk.
“We don’t have temperatures over three days high enough to be heatwave conditions around Melbourne. But otherwise, we do have some areas of low-intensity heatwave … about the north-east for the three-day period starting Friday,” she said.
Parts of the ACT, NSW and South Australia will also experience the 40-degree temperatures that had many West Australians sweltering this week.
Parts of the NSW interior and west will have temperatures as high as 44 on Sunday. Temperatures in western Sydney are forecast to reach 39 on Sunday and Monday.
Pumpa encouraged Victorians to be sun smart, stay hydrated, complete exercise or outdoor work early in the day, and look out for animals.
“If you are cooling off at the beach or the pool, just keep in mind that we do have some extreme UV index predicted over the weekend,” she said.
“So do make sure you have your sunblock, take some time out in the shade, wear your sunglasses as well as a hat.”
While the hot conditions will be a welcome change after a mild Melbourne summer, the heat will remain oppressive into Sunday evening.
“At the moment, it seems like the cool change will be coming through Melbourne in the overnight period on Sunday night,” Pumpa said.
“This is quite a short burst of heat that will come down at the start of the new week.”
The windy cool change overnight on Sunday will drop temperatures across the city, with a high of 22 predicted for Melbourne on Monday.
With AAP
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