A severe heat wave pushes thousands of Australians to the beaches
The Australian city of Sydney recorded its hottest night in November since temperature records began, as daytime temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
The city recorded a low of 25.4 degrees Celsius overnight.
The heat wave prompted the fire service in the state of "New South Wales" to impose a comprehensive ban on setting fires for most of the eastern and northeastern parts of the state.
Firefighters are fighting to extinguish the dozens of wildfires in the state.
Temperatures rose over the weekend as well in other parts of the country.
These areas include the states of "South Australia" and "Victoria".
And local reports said that evening temperatures at Sydney Airport had dropped to 25 degrees Celsius at 17:30 pm (06:30 GMT). The heat wave is expected to return again from next Tuesday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said Friday that "November was unusual in many ways. We have only seen half the usual rate of rain, and this month could be one of the hottest November on record."
It was the first weekend of significant bushfire activity since the end of last year, which witnessed the most intense bushfire season in Australian history, although it was not the deadliest in terms of deaths.
The wildfire season in 2019-2020 saw fires ravage areas of 24 million hectares.
The fires have affected all Australian states, destroying more than 3,000 homes and killing and displacing nearly three billion animals. At least 33 people were killed in those fires.
The highest record temperature in Sydney was recorded on Observatory Hill in the CBD.
By 4:30 a.m., the temperature had returned to 30 degrees Celsius, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The previous record temperature recorded on "Observatory Hill" at night was 24.8 ° C in 1967.
The Department of Health in the state of "New South Wales" reminded people of the need to maintain restrictions on social distancing in order to stop the possible spread of the Corona virus.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicted a heat wave that would last for five or six days in parts of the northern state of "New South Wales" and southeastern "Queensland".
The Rural Fire Service has warned of "very high to severe predictions about the fire risk" in the eastern and northeastern parts of New South Wales.
There are currently 45 bush and grass fires burning in the state. And one of those fires threaten homes in areas of western Sydney.
On Friday, the rural fire service urged residents to prepare with plans to combat the fires.
"This is the first time since the devastating season last year that we see a high risk of large-scale fires," she said.
BBC
