Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane to be struck by three freak weather events

Australia faces a terrifying triple threat: a bitterly dry spring drought, a scorching summer heatwave – and large swathes of the country that have become a deadly tinderbox of bushfires.

Latest data from the Bureau of Meteorology has revealed the shocking dangers facing the nation after an El Niño was declared on Tuesday.

An abnormal combination of weather events is expected to plunge Australia into crisis this summer, with the entire country expected to suffer from extremely dry heat.

Conditions are looking perfect for another possible black summer, just four years after Australia was ravaged by devastating bushfires in 2019 and 2020.

A vast swath of coastline, from Cairns to Sydney, potentially affecting around 10 million people and stretching 1,000km inland, is on high bushfire alert this spring.

The rural south-east and far north-west of Victoria, extending into South Australia, have also been identified as danger areas by the Council of Australasian Fire Authorities.

A large area of ​​Australia’s red center is also at high risk of out-of-control fires, stretching across almost the entire central Northern Territory.

The Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area, on the South Australia-Western Australia border, has also been highlighted as being at high risk of wildfires.

The danger zones are expected to be fueled by parched, overgrown undergrowth and grasslands, which have thrived in the humid La Nina conditions over the past two years.

But they are now dead and dried out – and a looming very dry spring is about to make the barren tinder even more flammable.

Former fire chief Greg Mullins warned of “tinderbox” conditions just waiting to erupt with devastating consequences.

“Excessive rain in recent years has caused prolific growth of vegetation in Australia, which is drying out and turning into fire fuel as we experience hotter and drier conditions,” Ms. Mullins, former NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner and founder of Emergency Leaders for Climate. Action.

“Grass fires can be as deadly and destructive as wildfires. They evolve very quickly.

“People who have been victims of these types of fires in the past have not been able to outrun them and have unfortunately died.”

“Summer will almost certainly see a return to bushfires across most of Australia, with major fires in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales and even suburban Sydney.

“All levels of government must understand the growing risk of devastating wildfires and step up their preparedness.”

The warning comes as the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed on Tuesday that it had detected a positive dipole event in the Indian Ocean that is expected to deprive the country of rainfall this spring.

This will also be compounded by a negative southern annular mode event which will also keep rain clouds at bay over eastern Victoria and NSW.

The two weather events will combine with the now-confirmed El Nino that will send the mercury soaring, with almost the entire country 80 percent sure of having above-average maximum temperatures.

Even minimum temperatures are likely to be 80 percent above average across the country as the country is gripped by the El Niño outbreak.

Only a small part of tropical north Queensland is set to escape the worst heatwave predicted – but temperatures around Cooktown and Cairns are still likely to be 60 to 75 above average percent.

The summer heat is expected to extend into 2024 with no respite in sight, apart from two pockets around Mount Isa in Queensland and near Ngukurr in the north-east of the Northern Territory.

The weather warnings come after the northern hemisphere faced a series of natural disasters and devastating heatwaves this year.

Wildfires have wreaked havoc in Canada, Hawaii and Greece, coupled with cataclysmic flooding in Europe and North Africa.

The country’s fire chiefs are now warning Australia to prepare for the upcoming bushfire season.

“Climatic influences leading to an increased risk of bushfires this season are widespread,” warned Rob Webb, CEO of NWAC, the National Fire and Emergency Services Council.

“We don’t need reminders given what happened with the fires in the northern hemisphere, whether in Greece or in Canada, where we had 700 Australian firefighters and other specialists.”

“Almost the entire country can expect drier and warmer than normal conditions this spring. It doesn’t have to be a dark summer to be dangerous.

“It is important that Australians are alert to local bushfire risks over the coming months, regardless of their location.”