Key events
Still not too late to leave areas near dangerous Victoria fire, but conditions will change later today
Jason Heffernan, the chief officer of Victoria’s Country Fire Authority, is speaking about the fire threat to the state today. He told ABC News:
It is going to be a challenging day for not only firefighters, but for Victorians generally. It will be potentially record-breaking heat across the state.
Four zones around the Carlisle River fire have been asked to evacuate immediately, and it is still not too late to do so.
We do expect that fire will run today under the conditions, those hot northerly winds, but it’s the change that’s going to come through about 5pm with some really punchy winds, that is likely to do most of the damage and drive that fire further into the Otways in a north-easterly direction, affecting nearly all the communities which we have highlighted today.
Donna Lu
Heat is Australia’s ‘silent killer’. Here are the symptoms to watch out for
What are the symptoms of heat-related illness? How do you stay cool and prevent heat stress? What does prolong heat do to your body?
Extreme heat is the most common cause of weather-related hospitalisations and deaths in Australia – here’s what you need to know.
Stephanie Convery
A dispatch from Ouyen, Victoria, which could hit 49C today
It was 26.1C as the sun rose over the small Victorian town of Ouyen this morning. The barest of night breezes rippled the surface of the lake as the sky turned red – the smallest of reprieves before the heat builds again.
Tuesday has loomed large in the minds of many. Today is when this prolonged heatwave is expected to hit its peak. Melbourne is facing a rare 45C, but this Mallee town of 1,170 people is staring down 49C – a figure that would break the state’s temperature record of 48.8C, set in Hopetoun on Black Saturday in 2009.
From where we sit in Ouyen, it seems extremely likely that it will get there. It got pretty close just two weeks ago, peaking at 47.5C on Thursday 8 January. And Tuesday is not the first but the fifth day in a row that temperatures here will exceed 40C – and there’s more to come.
Ouyen hit a top of 44.3C yesterday at 5.52pm. It got to at least 42.5C on Sunday and 43.3C on Saturday, and hit 45.1 on Friday. It has barely dropped below 20C at night. And another four days over 40C are expected to follow, totalling a possible nine full days of extreme 40C+ temperatures.
The heat is heavy and insistent, pressing sharply through clothes, sunglasses, windows and walls. There’s no hiding from it, except in heavily air-conditioned buildings.
The area hasn’t recorded a drop of rainfall all January, and only 13.6mm in December. The fire danger rating today is extreme.
Good morning
Good morning to you all. There are only a few more days left of January, yeesh. Here’s what’s on deck today.
An out-of-control bushfire near Carlisle River in southern Victoria prompted warnings last night for communities to evacuate immediately ahead of a hot, dry and dangerous day of weather. There is a total fire ban across all of Victoria today.
Temperatures are expected to soar in parts of Victoria and South Australia today, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning an extreme heatwave could smash temperature records. Melbourne is in for its hottest day since 2009’s Black Saturday bushfires, with forecast temperatures of 45C.
Parts of north-east Victoria and south-west NSW face an extreme heatwave warning, with officials warning of impacts to residents’ health. Heat is Australia’s “silent killer”; here’s what to watch out for.
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