Bureau of Meteorology says storms expected for east coast, heatwaves for the west

ABC NEWS (Australia)

This weekend, storms will lash parts of the east coast while heatwave conditions are forecast for the west. Senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology Miriam Bradbury says these conditions are expected throughout summer.

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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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