Today, southeastern Australia braces for sweltering conditions, with temperatures expected to climb to 40 degrees in major cities like Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide.
Adelaide is set to experience a high of 37 degrees today, escalating to a scorching 45 degrees tomorrow. Meanwhile, some inland regions of South Australia may see temperatures soar to an intense 48 degrees.
Due to the extreme heat, Adelaide’s annual Australia Day celebration, The Aus Lights on the River, along with the evening fireworks, have been canceled. This popular event typically draws around 25,000 attendees each year.
In Brisbane, temperatures will peak at 35 degrees today, with a further rise to 37 degrees anticipated for Australia Day.
Canberra is expected to reach the highest temperature in the nation today, approaching a searing 40 degrees by the afternoon.
Fire authorities in Victoria are urging residents to pay close attention to warnings from emergency services. The severe heatwave conditions have heightened the risk of bushfires, causing them to flare up in the region’s landscapes.
“We have not seen severe to extreme intensity heat wave conditions like we are going to experience over the next seven days since 2009,” Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said.
“Take heed of the warnings, look after yourself, look after your family, those that are vulnerable.”
Emergency services were forced to issue an urgent reminder not to leave children, pets or older people unattended in vehicles after paramedics responded to 11 cases of children locked in hot cars across Melbourne and regional Victoria.
While Australians on the east coast prepare to sweat through the week, those in the west are dealing with the impact of a second tropical cyclone in a matter of weeks.
Tropical Cyclone Luana made landfall as a Category 2 system when it made landfall along the Dampier Peninsula north of Broome.
Wind gusts up to 106km/h were recorded north of Broome, in Lombadina, along with more than 100 millimetres of rain since midnight yesterday.
The storm has since weakened to a category 1 system moving inland.
Residents along the Kimberley coast should expect heavy rainfall and damaging winds over the long weekend, which is only expected to ease from Tuesday.
