Sydney recorded its hottest November night ever

 

Sydney recorded its hottest November night on record, with daytime temperatures reaching 40 ° C on Sunday.

The Australian city recorded a temperature of at least 25.4 degrees Celsius during the night.

The high heat prompted the New South Wales Fire Department (NSW) to issue a complete fire ban in most of the eastern and northeastern parts of the state.

Firefighters are battling dozens of wildfires in the state. Temperatures also rose over the weekend in other parts of the country.

These included South Australia and Victoria.

Local reports said evening temperatures at Sydney Airport have now dropped to 25 degrees Celsius at 17:30 (06:30 GMT). The weather is expected to be hotter again from Tuesday, although the official start of summer is still a few days away.

Andrew Watkins of the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) noted Friday that "November was totally unusual in many ways. We only saw half of our normal precipitation, and it is very likely one of our most important November members on record." .

It's the first weekend of major bushfires since the end of last year, which has seen Australia's wildfire season's most deadly, if not the deadliest. The 2019-20 wildfire season saw fires engulf 24 million hectares of land.

The fires have affected every Australian state, destroying more than 3,000 homes, and killing or displacing nearly three billion animals. At least 33 people were killed.

    • A visual guide to the bushfire crisis in Australia

The Sydney record temperature was recorded at the Hill Observatory in the CBD. By 4:30, the temperature had risen again to 30C, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The previous record at the Hill Observatory was 24.8 ° C in 1967.

Pictures from Sydney show huge crowds of people flocking to the beach.

The New South Wales Department of Health has reminded people to adhere to social distancing regulations in order to stop the potential spread of the coronavirus.

The BOM has predicted a five or six-day heat wave in parts of northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland.

The Rural Fire Service (RFS) has warned of "very high to severe fire risk predictions" in the eastern and northeastern parts of NSW.

There are currently 45 bush and grass fires in the state. One fire threatens homes in western Sydney.

On Friday, RFS Deputy Commissioner Peter McKinney urged people to prepare shooting plans.

"This is the first time since the disastrous season last year that we are seeing increased fire hazards on a large scale," he said.