Heatwaves leave Vic, SA on high alert

10 Nov 2009, 7:39 am   -   Source: AAP
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Victorian and South Australian authorities are nervously watching the weather as the first heatwave of the bushfire season begins.

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Victorian authorities are nervously watching the weather as the first heatwave of the bushfire season begins.

Melbourne is already sweltering in the longest run of November heat in more than 80 days.

Yesterday's temperature of 35.5 degrees was the hottest day since Black Saturday on February 7, when the maximum hit a record 46.4 degrees in Melbourne and bushfires swept Victoria, killing 173 people.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said Tuesday's predicted top of 34 degrees would be the fourth day in a row with temperatures of more than 30 degrees, the longest spell of heat in Melbourne in November since 1925.
   
"The highest number of 30 degree days in a row is six, and that was in 1896," Mr Stewart told AAP.

Country Fire Authority chief fire officer Russell Rees warned Victoria was in for another difficult summer if rain did not follow this week's heat.
   
"Unless it rains following this dry spell, it will rapidly bring summer on," he said.

"We normally look at summer seriously starting by mid December. It will now bring summer on as soon as mid to late November.

Grass and forests would dry out quickly without rain, Mr Rees warned.

"The grass will go off more rapidly, and it will be just fuel waiting to go," he said.

"If it doesn't rain, then we're at the behest of the hot, dry windy days.

"This will set us back. Our best hope is for a period of cooler, damper weeks."

Winds were light, easing the immediate fire threat, but could pick up towards the weekend as the trough approaches, Mr Rees said.

Mr Stewart said isolated thunderstorm activity, including the prospect of dry lightning, was expected in parts of northern Victoria on Tuesday and along parts of the Great Dividing Range on Wednesday and Thursday.
   
Coastal areas can expect some relief mid-week, with maximum temperatures to dip to the high 20s thanks to afternoon sea breezes on Wednesday and Thursday, but heat will continue to build in the north until Saturday, Mr Stewart said.

Mildura, on the Murray River in the state's far northwest, is bracing for 43 degrees on Saturday.

An 800-hectare bushfire in the state's far east Gippsland area has been burning out of control since last week, Department of Sustainability and Environment fire crews, incident controller
Peter Billing said.

It is burning in remote country at Dock Inlet, near Cape Conran, and will probably spread to about 4,000ha before crews can expect to contain it later in the week.
   
A 600ha blaze near Mallacoota in East Gippsland has been contained.

Adelaide's temperature to soar

Meanwhile Adelaide's top temperature reached 37 degrees on the weekend with the mercury expected to soar above 35 for the remainder of the week.

The bureau says SA's weather is being dominated by a large, almost stationary, high pressure system in the Tasman Sea.

The forecast prompted warnings from workplace and health authorities for all South Australians to keep cool and well hydrated.
 

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