‘Severe’ heatwave to hit southern Australia before temperatures cool in time for New Years

Large swathes of southern Australia are facing severe heatwave conditions heading into the New Year and an elevated risk of bushfires.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos, DECEMBER 24, 2022. People enjoy the warm weather at St Kilda beach ahead of Christmas Day. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Large swathes of southern Australia are facing severe heatwave conditions heading into the new year and an elevated risk of bushfires, while the Northern Territory and parts of Queensland are expected to be hit with heavy rain and cooler temperatures in the aftermath of ex-tropical cyclone Ellie.

After families across cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart celebrated Christmas in temperatures ranging from the high 20s to low 30s on Sunday, above-average heat is expected until Wednesday, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Narramore said.

“We are going to see heatwave conditions develop from Western Australia all the way through to Tasmania, and including South Australia and Victoria,” he said.

“We are likely to see many locations experience temperatures anywhere from 8C to 16C above average.

“Temperatures (will be) in the low 40s for much of South Australia, western NSW and northwestern Victoria with temperatures into the mid to high 30s for parts of south Victoria and (in the) south of South Australia. We could even see temperatures get into the low 30s in Tasmania.”

Adelaide is set to reach 40C and Melbourne is likely to hit 37C on Tuesday.

The bureau has issued severe heatwave warnings to residents in SA including in the upper southeast, Riverland, Murraylands, mid-north, Flinders, west coast, lower Eyre Peninsula and northwest pastoral districts.

Warnings have also been issued to residents in NSW along the south coast, Snowy Mountains and in the lower western districts, and in Victoria and Tasmania covering much of those states on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Mr Narramore said hot temperatures could trigger great bushfire risk before temperatures cool in time for New Year's Eve.

“We are expecting higher fire dangers across much of southern Western Australia, south South Australia, northern Victoria and southern NSW. We may even see isolated areas of extreme fire danger on Wednesday,” he said.

By Wednesday, a cold front is expected to sweep across SA, dropping temperatures back into the low to mid-20s and breaking the heat with showers and thunderstorms, Mr Narramore said.

Meanwhile, tropical cyclone Ellie was downgraded to a tropical low on Friday but heavy rain and wind continued to batter parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Rainfall in excess of 300mm in parts of the Northern Territory has led to flooding and below-average temperatures across northern parts of the country, Mr Narramore said.