Bushfires: rain brings respite but it’s not all good news

Firefighters will enjoy a brief respite from the heatwave that exacerbated the nation’s bushfires with scattered showers.

Firefighters will enjoy a brief respite from the sweltering heatwave that exacerbated the nation’s deadly bushfires, with scattered showers across many fire-ravaged regions But meteorologists warn the wet weather will not be all good news.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman said cloud cover drifting across the country would bring 5-10mm of rain over the fire sites in Victoria and southern NSW on Tuesday, reducing fire dangers but increasing the likelihood of other problems.

“Although rainfall will reduce fire dangers, it is likely to be a hindrance to firefighting efforts and produce hazardous conditions for firefighters due to muddy and slippery access tracks and unsealed roads which will likely be exacerbated by ash, falling tree limbs, hazy and cloudy conditions limiting surveying activity, all of which will limit the ability to establish containment lines and take advantage of the more settled conditions.” she said.

It is understood that the rainfall could also negatively affect the ability of firefighters to perform vital hazard reduction burns in preparation for potentially more bushfires in the weeks and months ahead.

Canberra was expected to benefit, with more light rainfalls forecast for Tuesday along with a slight drop in temperatures to about 25C before increasing to a max of 38C on Friday.

Despite the rain, a smoke haze is set to remain over the capital, which has recorded some of the worst air quality figures over the past few days, until the weekend where temperatures will rise across the nation’s south.

Northern NSW and southern Queensland were not expected to benefit from the cooler conditions elsewhere, with maximum temperatures forecast to range from the high 30Cs to low 40Cs across the region.

Another heatwave was expected to form in Western Australia from Tuesday and slowly move across the nation, hitting the eastern seaboard by the end of the week.

“High temperatures, relatively dry conditions and strengthening north to northwesterly winds ahead of another squally, southwesterly wind change will combine to produce elevated fire dangers, potentially reaching severe for southern districts including over ongoing fire sites,” the BOM spokeswoman said.

She said that while the fire danger in the nation’s southeast would reach hazardous conditions again by the end of the week, a cool change over the weekend should ease the danger.

“A squally wind change associated with a strong cold front is expected to traverse South Australian fire sites on Thursday evening, Victorian fire sites on Friday afternoon and evening and NSW fire sites Friday evening,” she said. “Another band of rain will likely follow within 12 hours of the passage of the cold front, potentially bringing further rainfall to the fire sites.”