2023-12-08 07:21:21
An intense heat wave with temperatures of more than 40 degrees and the threat of a powerful cyclone Jasper has put a large part of the population of Australia that lives in the south and east of the oceanic country in check this Friday.
One of the greatest concerns lies in the state of New South Wales, the most populous in the country, where the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has predicted that temperatures will exceed 40 degrees today and tomorrow in several locations in this jurisdiction, with expected maximums of up to 46 degrees. For this reason, state authorities today ordered the closure of around twenty rural schools and prohibited outdoor bonfires due to the risk of fires – from high to extreme – in the districts of Lower Central West Plains, Southern Riverina, Northern Riverina and South Western (more than 200 kilometers west and southwest of Sydney).
Added to this is the fear that the risk will multiply tomorrow given the forecasts of temperatures of up to 44 degrees in western Sydney and the surrounding Central Coast, thus reproducing the conditions that occurred during the ‘Black Summer’ of 2019-2020. , when hundreds of forest fires They destroyed an area the size of Türkiye and claimed 33 lives.
On the other hand, in the state of Victoria, the second most populated in the country, the authorities are on alert because temperatures will exceed 40 degrees today and in the following days in the northeastern part, bordering New South Wales, and the possibility of destructive winds in the north of Melbourne and other neighboring jurisdictions.
Also in the state of South Australia, which occupies part of the south and center of the oceanic country, authorities are fighting several forest fires while preparing to face this weekend the catastrophic conditions generated by the heat wave, with temperatures expected up to 47 degrees, and potential fires of up to 100 kilometers per hour. Today, South Australian firefighters are focused on fighting several fires, especially in the towns of Hamley Bridge, Lochiel and Melrose, about 270 kilometers north of the city of Adelaide.
On another front, the authorities of the northeastern state of Queensland, the third most populous in the country, They prepare for the onslaught of cyclone Jasper, category 4 and that will potentially hit the city of Cairns, about 1,700 kilometers from the city of Brisbane, and surrounding towns next week.
Australia faces drier than usual weather this year due to El Niño, a natural phenomenon caused by currents in the Pacific Ocean that, aggravated by global warming, could cause devastating disasters. This year, large and destructive forest fires have already been recorded throughout October in the eastern states of New South Wales and Queensland, which claimed the lives of at least three people.
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