00:00We are really moving into a very hot period, the hottest period, summer, across Australia,
00:07so we do really regularly see these heatwaves developing and the significant areas of storms
00:11developing.
00:13In terms of the heatwaves, our focus is on southwest Western Australia at the moment.
00:17Perth is in for a few very, very hot days in a row, up to 37 degrees today, possibly
00:22the first 40-degree day of the summer tomorrow, another warm one on Monday, so very warm conditions
00:28through the southwest land division there.
00:30On the other side of the country, in the east, we've got the storms today, widespread areas
00:35of potentially severe storms from southern Queensland all the way through inland New South
00:39Wales and across much of Victoria as well.
00:42So whether you're in the west or in the east, there's unfortunately a little bit to watch
00:46out for this weekend.
00:47All right, welcome to summer.
00:48Let's focus on WA, shall we?
00:51It does seem to be a tinderbox of elements there in WA, as you say, particularly in the
00:56southwest.
00:57Are we talking about elements that are rife for bushfires here?
01:01Unfortunately so, as well as those high temperatures that I mentioned, which are pretty much across
01:06those southwestern parts of the state.
01:08We've got the low to severe intensity heatwave conditions and it's very dry.
01:12So the heat, the dry conditions and a little bit of wind in the atmosphere is pushing those
01:17fire dangers up as well.
01:18We've got extreme fire dangers forecast for some parts of the southwest land division today,
01:23becoming more extensive tomorrow.
01:24So definitely if you or someone you know lives in that southwest corner of the country,
01:29be aware that that fire risk is very elevated this weekend.
01:32Okay.
01:33Well, what about next week?
01:34Do we get any reprieve at all?
01:36We do gradually see a little bit of a reprieve coming through from around Tuesday or Wednesday.
01:43The peak of that heat starts shifting eastwards, moving into South Australia and then to the
01:47eastern states.
01:48So it's still going to be fairly mild for southwest Western Australia, including around Perth,
01:53but the intensity of that heat will back off slightly.
01:55So we can expect to see the temperatures and the fire dangers start to come down a little
02:00early to middle next week.
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