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Eucalyptus bush fire
29 Jan 2019

Australia is bracing for another possible record bush fire season

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After a week's extreme heat over the greater parts of Australia, the country could during last week  enjoy a little cooler weather. However, the cool relief is only temporarily. The worst heat wave of 80 years seems to just be taking a temporary break.

Fire services in Australia is preparing for what could be yet another extreme fire season, as the country is approaching the end of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. The last two years have been difficult with many devastating wildfires.

Despite the slightly cooler weather during last weekend, the risk of dry thunder storms is high and there is now a warning for fire risk. Forest fires are a recurring problem during Australia's hot and dry summers, especially in the flammable eucalyptus trees.

Australia has experienced heat records five days in a row with temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius in several places in the states of Victoria and New South Wales as well as around the capital Canberra, states the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to TT.

The city of Noona in New South Wales had 35.9 degrees overnight last week - a new heat record in the country. Never before has such a high minimum temperature been measured for one day. In Port Augusta, South Australia, records were also recorded, with 48.9 degrees on Tuesday.

The central parts of Australia may, however, endure the heat for a while. Oodnadatta, one of the hottest places on earth, still has temperatures of nearly 40 degrees and even in the capital Canberra, the temperature is expected to rise to 40 degrees over the weekend, which is the fourth consecutive day, also that record.