Catastrophic Fire Danger, winds and storms for south-east Australia

Australian Community Media

Severe weather expected for parts of south-eastern Australia.

Transcript

00:00Extreme to catastrophic fire dangers are forecast for much of eastern and southeastern Australia

00:05today, alongside damaging winds and potentially severe thunderstorms. Let me take you through

00:11some of the details now. Starting with our fire danger ratings for today, Wednesday,

00:16we can see elevated fire dangers across many parts of the southeast, including parts of South

00:21Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. It's really New South Wales that we want to focus on

00:26today, however, as that's where we're expecting widespread extreme to catastrophic fire danger

00:32ratings. Now, the extreme fire danger ratings are forecast for many areas, including the Greater

00:37Sydney area, the Greater Hunter, the Illawarra Shoalhaven and the Riverina. We are forecasting

00:44catastrophic fire danger ratings for the lower central west plains, including areas around

00:49Dubbo. Now, what this is telling us today is that the weather conditions are making any fire-related

00:55activities inadvisable. Any fires that get started in the landscape are likely to spread quickly and

01:01act erratically, likely to get out of control as well. It's because of this that the RFS have issued

01:07total fire bans for all of these areas. If you check in with your local emergency services, you can find

01:13more information about what you are and are not allowed to do under these total fire bans. In addition

01:19to the fire weather concerns today, we do also have a risk of damaging winds, particularly focused

01:25through the southeast of New South Wales. A severe weather warning for damaging wind gusts is in place

01:30for some of those southeastern areas, including the central and southern ranges, much of the Illawarra

01:36Shoalhaven, the entirety of the ACT and the Canberra region there. Now, we're likely to see windy

01:42conditions across much of the southeast today, including New South Wales and even Victoria, but it's this

01:48warning area that is most likely to see those damaging gusts today, easing back later on Wednesday.

01:54The damaging gusts will be strong enough to bring down trees or tree limbs, even power lines.

02:02Taking a broader look at the winds now, we can see that they're wrapping strongly around a couple of

02:07low pressure troughs that are moving across the southeast today. So those windy conditions, as I

02:12mentioned, not just across New South Wales, but across parts of Victoria as well, even as far south as

02:17Tasmania and as far west as South Australia. However, we see a bit of a range in our temperatures

02:23across the southeast, and it's the very warm, dry conditions across New South Wales that are really

02:28helping to drive those extreme to catastrophic fire dangers there. As you can see, further southeast,

02:34we're looking at cool to mild conditions, temperatures in the high teens to low twenties.

02:39But across much of eastern and northern New South Wales, temperatures are likely to reach the mid to

02:44high thirties at least today, if not the low forties in the north. Now, this low pressure trough you see

02:51here moving across New South Wales at around 4pm today is already making its way across Victoria.

02:57Looking at our radar imagery from the last few hours, we can see showers and storms streaming ahead

03:03of that trough, impacting Victoria and northern parts of Tasmania in particular, although we are also

03:09seeing storms kicking off across New South Wales already. This is really paving the way for the

03:14storm forecast for the rest of today as well. Let's take a quick look at that now.

03:19Looking at our storm forecast for today, the green areas show us that storms are possible across much

03:24of northern and eastern New South Wales, much of central and eastern Victoria, even parts of Tasmania

03:31included there. The yellow and red areas show us where severe storms are possible. That includes parts of

03:36Victoria and northeastern parts of New South Wales, pushing as far south as the Sydney area.

03:42Now, the storms are likely to bring damaging winds to parts of Victoria, but they could also bring

03:46heavy rainfall and large hail to parts of New South Wales. In fact, we may even see some high-end

03:52storm impacts, giant hail and destructive wind gusts today. Now, we're going to issue a separate

03:58severe weather update video around the thunderstorm forecast for today that will cover that off in a

04:04little bit more detail, so be sure to keep an eye out for that other video.

04:08In the meantime, recapping some of the key hazards we're looking at today. In areas of elevated fire

04:14dangers, particularly through New South Wales, there is an increased risk of bushfires and grass fires.

04:20Be aware of what you're doing, particularly outside today, and be sensible about what you're doing too.

04:26Where we're seeing strong winds and potentially severe thunderstorms, we could see damage to property,

04:31cars and vegetation. We may also see further power outages and disruptions to travel and transport

04:36through the day today. Across today, it is essential to stay on top of the latest warnings

04:42and forecasts via the Bureau's website, the Bond Weather app and via our social media. Stay safe and we'll

04:48catch you next time.

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