Rising for work this morning, I remembered the weather report from the night before-extremely hot and fire warnings in place.
At around 7.30am, whilst making my morning cuppa, the temperature floated between 24°C and 26°C, but by the time I hit the road an hour later, this had climbed to almost 30°C so knew we were in for a doozy!!
A gusty wind has caused much concern, especially for our brave firefighters who continue to remain on alert as temperatures continue to rise well above the 39°C mark and we don’t expect a break until sometime tomorrow morning….going to be a long night for many!
Right now, it is 4.40pm and the temperature here on the Central Coast sits at 35°C and no rain in sight. It’s times like this that I am reminded how awful this heat would have been for my dad, then my concerns turn to all those other aged folk who might be feeling it today. Driving home from work, our local radio invited calls from listeners who had any ideas/suggestions for ‘staying cool’…one elderly woman suggested leaving out water for any bird life, so as soon as I made it home, that was the first thing I took care of, filling an ice cream container with water and placing it on the front lawn.
News reports tell us of a number of fires, some out of control!!
About 15 of almost 50 bush, scrub and grass fires across the state are causing concern, the Rural Fire Service said. Fire and Rescue NSW said it would have almost 250 fire engines and 1000 firefighters working during the day after mobilising reserves and recalling off-duty personnel.
Fire bugs would be shown “no mercy” by police if they were caught, police warned. Total Fire Bans are in place today in 15 areas of NSW – covering most of the state.
All tracks and trails in Sydney’s national parks have been closed as well as some vantage points for the departure of the International Fleet Review tall ships, the Office of Environment and Heritage says.
During the summer months Aussies have become acustomed to extreme weather conditions, but this being the first week of October, quite frightening and poses the question as to what we can expect in a couple of more months?!