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Map shows Australia's day of record breaking heat

Author
Newstalk ZB, news.com.au,
Publish Date
Thu, 19 Dec 2019, 5:00PM
This world temperature map shows Australia, on its own, with scorching temperatures. (Photo / Windy)

Map shows Australia's day of record breaking heat

Author
Newstalk ZB, news.com.au,
Publish Date
Thu, 19 Dec 2019, 5:00PM

Australia sweltered through its hottest day ever on Tuesday. Now forecasters are saying even that record could be broken over the coming days.

New South Wales and South Australia are set to bake in temperatures almost state wide of more than 40C today. Parts of Sydney could be hotter than desert towns today reaching as high as 45C.

Tomorrow it’s Victoria’s turn to see blistering maximums. Then NSW will get it all over again on Saturday which could be the state’s hottest day ever. A single world weather map graphically illustrates how out of kilter Australia’s heat is with the rest of the world.

“There are dozens of towns and cities that are likely to see records break before Saturday,” Sky News Weather channel meteorologist Tom Saunders said this morning.

Most of the country is in heatwave including all of NSW, South Australia, the Northern Territory and much of Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. Sydney and Canberra are in severe heatwave until Saturday.

South Australia will be scorched today and tomorrow, just like it has been for days. Adelaide is set to top out at 44C. That’s only slightly cooler than yesterday when the CBD weather station registered 45C, the hottest ever December day in the city.

A total fire ban is in place across South Australia today. Areas with severe fire danger ratings surround Adelaide.

Into NSW and the state’s Rural Fire Service (RFS) has extreme fire danger warnings in place for the Greater Sydney, Illawarra and Shoalhaven and Southern Ranges areas on Thursday.

There are fears the already enormous 40,000 hectare Gospers Mountain blaze, north of the Blue Mountains, will merge with the Green Wattle Creek fire creating a blaze that could encircle Sydney on its land sides.

RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said fire behaviour would be “erratic and significant” due to the winds.

“We can expect the winds to be up and conditions to be at their peak very early in the morning and we’ll have high sustained fire dangers for something like 15 hours.”

A statewide total fire ban announced on Tuesday will remain in place until midnight on Saturday.

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