Mild weather gives way to fire danger warnings in Victoria

VICTORIANS are being warned to prepare for some of the worst fire conditions this year with scorching temperatures and strong winds forecast for the weekend. The state is very dry after 42 days without significant rain.

VICTORIANS have been warned to prepare for serious fire conditions this weekend with hot and windy weather to sweep the state.

People need to be aware of the conditions and know there is an increased chance of fires, the state’s Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said.

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“It’s going to be a hot and windy weekend and on top of that it is extremely dry,” Mr Lapsley told the Herald Sun.

“It’s very serious fire weather.

“This weather is what we would expect in mid February, it’s like we have a return to midsummer with the heat, the wind and dry conditions.

“It seems the summer-like conditions are returning for the weekend.”

The windy conditions would pass through the western part of Victoria on Saturday followed by the central and southeastern parts of the state on Sunday.

“There’s also been 42 days without significant rain which means the conditions are very dry and we have noticed that fires recently have been harder to control and intense because of the fire load,” Mr Lapsley said.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words - and this one paints a worrying trend for #Victoria! Only a handful of spots have had more than 1mm of rain so far this month, most places are parched https://t.co/MzEGWMvDfW pic.twitter.com/wcSC4K2PRE

— Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) March 13, 2018

He urged people to be aware of the conditions particularly if they were planning on camping, hiking or other outdoor activities.

“It’s important that people know what to expect and be prepared, certainly some places don’t have mobile phone reception so they need to be attuned to the local conditions,” Mr Lapsley said.

This is despite mild conditions earlier in the week, with temperatures staying in the low twenties range.

The Bureau of Meteorology has said conditions for Wednesday and Thursday are likely to remain mild at 23C and 21C respectively with clouds to clear in the afternoon.

“It’s been a mild week but it will change on Friday with the temperature expected to get to 26C and then it will really warm up for the weekend,” senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said.