Drought, wind and heat: Bushfire season is starting earlier and lasting longe

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service declared the earliest total fire bans in its history this week. The entire state was declared to be in drought on the same day.

Bushfire destroyed 200 homes in the Blue Mountains in 2013.

The combination of winter drought and hot, dry weather has made dangerous fires increasingly likely.

Already this week two fires on the south coast have escaped containment lines and destroyed houses.

The weather during these fires was 6 degrees Celsius warmer than the August average, dry and extremely windy.

The wind speed peaked at 104 kilometres an hour in Bega and 85kph in Nowra, two towns close to where fires broke out.

Read the story from ABC News originally published on The Conversation - “Drought, wind and heat: Bushfire season is starting earlier and lasting longer.”