Australia bushfire: Canberra endures hottest day on record

SYDNEY: Australian’s capital Canberra has experienced its hottest day on record with the national average temperature reaching a high of 40.7 degrees Celsius ((108.9 degrees Fahrenheit) due to bushfire.

According to Meteo France weather forecaster Etienne Kapikian, temperatures in the Australian capital Canberra have set a new monthly record amid an advancing wildfire that has impelled a state of emergency declaration.

The capital Canberra affirmed its first state of emergency in almost two decades last week in expectancy of a heatwave and predictions that fires would also hit the southern suburbs.

Took to Twitter, Kapikian said that temperature was also the third-highest recorded in the city in any month, the new record along with all-time highs in January and December makes the 2019-2020 summers the hottest on record, he said.

The state of emergency declared two days ago is the first in the Australian Capital Territory, including Canberra and some surrounding areas, since 2003, when fires smashed almost 600 homes in the reign.

The main threat comes from the Orroral Valley fire, which has burned more than 17,000 hectares (44,000 acres) of mostly remote bushland.

Meteo France weather forecasters say the searing heat, with dry winds, could bring harsh bushfire conditions to parts of New South Wales and Victoria. More fires are still burning across the states.

Temperatures in the New South Wales town of Richmond jumped to 46.8 degrees Celsius (116.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday, Kapikian said.

It further stated storms are forecast to follow the heatwave, bringing rain that could help dampen fires but also carry the prospective for wild weather, including flash flooding across the state.

Reports suggested 33 people have died and vast swaths of the country have been burned since September 2019.

The months-long calamity has sparked renewed calls for Australia´s conservative government to take immediate action on climate change.

According to scientists, the bushfire tragedy was likely exacerbated by climate change, coming on the back of a crippling drought that turned forests into a tinderbox and allowed blazes to spread out of control rapidly.