By Cameron Myles and Emma Young
West Australians have been urged to keep cool and take care over coming days as Perth braces for a heatwave that will send temperatures soaring on the last weekend before Christmas, even as a coral bleaching event unfolds around Broome.
The mercury will climb to a maximum of 38 degrees in Perth on Saturday before hitting 41 degrees on Sunday and Monday, with a heatwave warning from the Bureau of Meteorology stretching almost the entire length of the state’s coast.
Temperatures are rising to dangerous levels this weekend, but a cool change is on the way.Credit: WAtoday
St John WA ambulance paramedic Matt Didcoe said it was important to look after young people and the elderly in such hot conditions.
“And anyone who’s having to work outside over this period, or who is exercising, we’d encourage them to reconsider their need to do that,” he said. “And if they’re going to, to take appropriate measures – wear a hat; slip, slop, slap and wrap.
“Dehydration sneaks up on people. Some of the early signs – that feeling of being thirsty – can escalate quite quickly, so if you are going outdoors, take appropriate amounts of water with you and make sure you do stay hydrated throughout.”
Didcoe said cars only took minutes to heat up, and urged people with children or pets to not leave them in vehicles, even for short periods.
Christmas relief after heated lead-in
While high temperatures will bake the state this weekend, things will take a cooler turn for Christmas Day on Wednesday.
It may not be a white Christmas, but at least it won’t be white-hot, with the festive forecast a very mild 23 degrees, making for the coolest Perth Christmas Day in decades.
Boxing Day will be another mild one, with a top of 25 degrees after an overnight low of 13 degrees.
North-west corals bleach under rising heat
Environs Kimberley acting chief executive Martin Pritchard observing coral bleaching at Entrance Point, near Broome.Credit: Damian Kelly
The soaring temperatures come as Environs Kimberley identifies a coral bleaching event unfolding in at least two areas around Broome, one at the Entrance Point reef in Broome and the second at Coconut Wells reef, about 15-20 kilometres north.
Acting chief executive Martin Pritchard said the severity looked comparable to the significant bleaching in 2016 which affected both on and offshore reefs.
“Kimberley corals are known to be robust and can withstand temperature ranges much more than corals on, say, the Barrier Reef, so it’s really concerning that these corals are bleaching,” he said.
“I went out to Scott Reef a few weeks ago and the water was like a bath. It was 36 degrees … we are really worried that since then there will have been coral bleaching at Scott Reef and places like Ashmore Reef and Rowley Shoals.
“Coral bleaching impacts the whole marine food chain, so we will need an investigation to tell us what this means for fish and other populations and what kind of recovery we might expect, if any.
“We will be asking state Environment Minister Reece Whitby to instigate an investigation so that we have a better idea of the extent of the damage.”
Pritchard noted a recent government decision to extend the life of a major WA gas export operation, the North West Shelf processing plant, for Woodside’s Burrup Hub project.
“We know that bleaching is being caused by climate change, so the government decision to extend the North West Shelf will impact more coral reefs off the Kimberley coast,” he said.
The government has defended its stance on expanding local gas operations as crucial to the process of “smoothing” Asian markets’ transition away from coal use.
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