Weather News

Fire danger soaring in SA

Ben McBurney, Monday April 21, 2014 - 15:10 AEST

Hot dry and gusty northwesterly winds ahead of a cooler change are causing severe fire danger over South Australia's West Coast, Eastern Eyre and Lower Eyre Peninsulas today.

A cold front and trough have collected lingering heat from the interior and filtered it over SA, causing temperatures to soar well above average for April.

In the west, the mercury has been pushing into the low-to-mid 30s, while further east maximums have been pushing into the low 30s. Edithburgh managed to nudge 31 degrees, the warmest it has been this late in the season since 2005.

However, it has been the combination of hot, dry and gusty winds that have allowed the fire danger to soar. Northwesterly winds have reached 60-80km/h across most western, central and southern parts, and have combined with humidity levels below 20%.

Thankfully, the fire prone conditions will be short lived. A west-southwesterly change will cross the state later this afternoon and evening, bringing much cooler conditions and even a few showers and thunderstorms to the south.

By tomorrow, much of the state will see maxima returning closer to average with lighter winds as a broad high pressure ridge builds over central Australia.

- Weatherzone

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