Australia declares El Nino as spring heatwave sparks bushfire concerns
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[September 19, 2023]
By Renju Jose
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia on Tuesday declared an El Nino weather
pattern was underway as the country's southeast sweltered in an intense
spring heat wave that raised the risks of bushfires and prompted
authorities to issue a total fire ban for Sydney.
Australia had held off declaring an El Nino but has been bracing for a
warm and dry southern hemisphere spring and summer in 2023, after three
years of heavy rains and frequent flooding. The anticipated dry weather
could hit wheat production in Australia, one of the world's top
exporters, with winter wheat harvesting set to start in November.
"We are already seeing extreme conditions in some parts of the
continent, particularly in the duration of heat. We've had an extended
period of warm and dry weather to start spring," the Bureau of
Meteorology (BoM) forecaster Karl Braganza told reporters.
Australia's last two fire seasons have been quiet compared to the
2019-2020 "Black Summer" bushfires that destroyed an area the size of
Turkey and killed 33 people.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate
Prediction Center (NOAA) declared an El Nino event in June. The BoM uses
different, slightly stricter metrics for declaring El Nino.
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The BOM's declaration of an El Nino, typically associated with extreme
weather events from wildfires to cyclones and droughts, comes in the
middle of a five-day burst of uncommon spring heat in parts of the
country. The heatwave is forecast to last until Wednesday, pushing
temperatures well above the September average.
Several regions have been given high fire danger ratings as authorities
warned high winds could whip up bushfires and urged residents to
minimize fire risks at their houses.
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![](../images/091923PIX/news_j8.jpg)
A burned tractor stands amid dead trees after a wildfire destroyed
the Kangaroo Valley Bush Retreat in Kangaroo Valley, New South
Wales, Australia, January 23, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
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More than 500 firefighters and emergency personnel are trying to
tame 61 fires across New South Wales state as of Tuesday morning,
with 13 not yet contained, authorities said.
Twenty-one schools in New South Wales, mostly in the state's south,
have been closed. Fire danger ratings in the south coast have been
raised to 'catastrophic' due to stronger-than-expected winds.
"Its the biggest risk we've faced since the 2019-20 fire season,"
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers told Sky
News.
Sydney is set to post five consecutive daytime maximum temperatures
of more than 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) in September, a record,
according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Temperatures could reach 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 F) in Sydney on
Tuesday, just shy of the September record of 34.6 degrees Celsius
(94.28 F) in 1965. But a cold front from Thursday will bring some
relief to the heat, pushing temperatures down to the low 20s.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)
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