Heatwaves, heightened bushfire risk as extreme El Nino tightens its grip

W

ith Australia in the grip of an extreme El Nino weather event, more heatwaves and a heightened bushfire risk are expected this summer.

Internationally it is being described as a "Godzilla El Nino", and while forecasters here are a little more conservative with their language, they say the weather event is tipped to rival the monster El Nino of 1997.

Dr Andrew Watkins, the manager of climate predictions with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said parts of Australia had already experienced high temperatures, with Melbourne about 16 degrees above the average on Monday.

"We could probably attribute this to the El Nino event that we're seeing at the moment, those clear skies, dry soil, not much rain about to keep things cool and that weather, that hot weather, now feeding in over south-eastern Australia," he said.

El Nino is often associated with drier-than-usual conditions across eastern and northern Australia.

Read the story ABC story - “'Godzilla El Nino' intensifying: Drought, heatwaves and heightened bushfire risk expected this summer”.