Weather News

Bushfire threat looms for SA, Victoria

Ben Domensino, Thursday January 4, 2018 - 14:42 AEDT

This Saturday parts of SA and Victoria are likely to experience their worst fire weather in more than two years, some potentially since Black Saturday.

A pulse of hot and dry air will be transported across southern Australia this weekend by blustery northwesterly winds ahead of an approaching cold front.

In terms of weather - namely the combination of wind speed, temperature and relative humidity - some areas could see their worst bushfire conditions since Black Saturday in February 2009.

According to computer models, the worst fire weather is likely to occur in central and eastern parts of SA and western Victoria. This region should see temperatures reach the high thirties to mid forties, relative humidity below 10 per cent and wind gusts in excess of 60km/h this Saturday.

This mix of dry, hot and windy weather would be capable of producing forest fire danger index values well above 100 in areas that have not seen much rainfall recently. These values would be classified as Catastrophic in SA and Code Red in Victoria, which are the highest possible ratings in both states.

Some locations in the driest areas could experience forest fire danger index values well above 100 on Saturday and possibly their highest ratings in years. Some forecast models indicate that values above 140 are a chance in both states.

Visit https://www.cfs.sa.gov.au and http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/ for the latest fire bans, ratings and alerts in SA and Victoria.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2018

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