Add us as your preferred source on Google to see more of our content in Search.
Add to Preferred SourcesAs Australia’s “catastrophic” and deadly wildfire emergency continues, UN weather experts echoed Government warnings for people to remain vigilant in the face of the fast-moving threat and tinderbox conditions.
In Geneva, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) noted that dozens of fires are raging, affecting around six million in eastern New South Wales state, and southeast Queensland, amid reports that three people lost their lives in the fires at the weekend.
Citing Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology description of the situation as “evolving and dangerous”, Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that conditions were likely to remain dry, with little to no rain forecast.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia, it’s been the second warmest January to October on record for Australia as a whole, and these are records going back 110 years.
“The most extreme 10 percent of fire weather days – which is how they measure the fire index – has increased in recent decades across many regions…There has been an associated increase in the length of the fire weather season and climate change including increasing temperatures, is contributing to these changes.”
According to WMO, many at-risk communities face winds of 60 to 80 kilometres per hour (37 to 50 miles per hour) and temperatures in the mid to high 30s Celsius (around 95 Fahrenheit).
Although a cool weather front that is forecast may ease fire dangers, “a combination of dry and gusty winds and a shift in wind direction will mean people in the impacted areas will need to remain vigilant”, Ms. Nullis insisted.
Between 1967 and 2013, major Australian bushfires resulted in over 8,000 injuries and 433 deaths, close to 50 percent of all fatalities from major Australian natural disasters, excluding heatwaves, Australian Government figures show.
Over the same period, bushfires cost approximately $3.2 billion.
Original source: UN News
Published on 12 November 2019