#Heatwave across southeast #Australia stokes #bushfires near #Adelaide

Source:- Newzee


Searing heat scorched southeastern Australia on Monday (January 25), stoking bushfires near the city of Adelaide and driving crowds to the beaches on an extended long weekend in what has mostly been a wetter than normal summer.
Six firefighting aircraft and crews on the ground battled blazes in the Adelaide Hills, where two homes were damaged or destroyed, state officials said on Sunday (January 24), adding that investigations were underway into the cause. The fire risk was downgraded on Monday, with residents urged to "watch and act".
Temperatures soared above 40 degrees C (104°F) across the southeast, but dropped sharply as a cool change moved in earlier than expected in Victoria, where temperatures dropped about 10 degrees in 10 minutes, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The blazing heat is expected to continue for another day in Australia's biggest city, Sydney, in the state of New South Wales before a cool change brings temperatures back to the mid-20s degrees Celsius.
The overall fire threat in Australia has otherwise been muted this season in stark contrast to last year, dubbed the "Black Summer", when bushfires killed 33 people and billions of native animals and razed more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres).