The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsSydney sweats in spring hot spell, faces 'extreme' bushfire risk
Australia's weather forecaster said temperatures in the New South Wales capital, were set to hit 33 degrees Celsius, nearly 13 degrees above average.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
A man walks through a park with the Sydney Opera House in the background on the first day of spring in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 1, 2026. (Reuters/Hollie Adams )
A
ustralia's most populous city Sydney baked in a burst of sweltering spring heat on Saturday, raising the risk of bushfires and prompting authorities to issue a ban on lighting fires.
The heat comes as a powerful El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific, expected to be among the strongest in decades, drives hotter and drier conditions across southern Australia during the September-November spring season.
On Saturday, the nation's weather forecaster said temperatures in the New South Wales capital, home to 5.6 million people, were set to hit 33 degrees Celsius, nearly 13 degrees above average.
At Sydney Airport, the temperature was already 28.6 degrees at 11:30 a.m. local time, more than seven degrees above the September mean maximum temperature, according to forecaster data.
"Fresh to strong and gusty northwesterly winds developing during the morning, combined with dry, unseasonably warm conditions, will result in elevated fire dangers across the Greater Sydney Region today," the forecaster said.
State fire authorities issued a total fire ban for Sydney where they rated fire risk as "extreme", the second highest danger rating.
Climate change is causing extreme heat and fire weather to become more common in Australia, a bushfire-prone country of around 27 million. In January, thousands of firefighters battled bushfires in the southeast that razed homes, cut power to thousands of homes and burned swathes of bushland.
