Sydney weather: Fire threat upgraded as NSW braces for unprecedented conditions

The NSW Rural Fire Service has upgraded the fire threat in parts of the state amid warnings of "catastrophic conditions" that are expected to take hold around midday.

As NSW faces the "worst possible fire conditions" in its history with 'extreme' and catastrophic' warnings in place across large slabs of the state, RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the situation was as "bad as it gets" and warned it was set to get worse on Sunday when winds are expected to sweep through scorched parts of mid to northern NSW. 

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Sydney weather: Fire threat upgraded as NSW braces for unprecedented conditions.”

'Turn in the weather': Dry, hot start to summer points to fire season ramping up

Australia is heading for a relatively hot and dry start to summer as key climate drivers combine to raise the fire threat in many parts of the country.

The odds point to about a 70 to 80 per cent chance of below-average rainfall for eastern Australia, extending dry conditions that have set in over much of the region in November, according to the latest climate outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology.

"We are seeing a turn in the weather," said Robyn Duell, a senior climatologist at the bureau, noting that much of the country had an exceptionally wet winter. "If we see a hot December, it will raise the risk [of bushfires] because there's a lot of vegetation around."

The outlook for heightened fire threats matches forecasts made in August that Australia's second-wettest winters on record would lead to a delayed start to the bushfire season before conditions ramped up.

Read the Melbourne Age story - “'Turn in the weather': Dry, hot start to summer points to fire season ramping up.”