Heatwave Conditions Reported Across Australia: BoM Issues Heatwave Warnings

Australia heatwave is set to impact the country through the later part of the week or at least Friday, February 17.

High temperatures are expected during the said period, especially for the southern, eastern, and western regions.

Australia Heatwave Forecast

(Photo : Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 23: Bondi Beach at sunrise ahead of expected extreme heatwave conditions across Sydney on January 23, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. New South Wales recorded no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hour reporting period. The last time there were no locally acquired cases in NSW was on 6 January 2021.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), during a media release on Thursday, February 16, stated heat is building up across the eastern, southern, and western parts of Australia as monsoon weather blankets the north.

This comes as the country is currently in its summer season, which spans from December to February each year.

Amid the extreme weather, hot conditions will develop across southern and eastern Australia in the coming days, causing moderate to severe intensity heatwave conditions, as stated in the news release on Thursday.

The BoM emphasizes a heatwave occurs when the maximum and minimum temperatures are abnormally hot in at least a three-day period at a certain location.

Also Read: Extreme Heatwave Kills Large Number of Magellanic Penguins in Argentina

Australia Heatwave Warning

The BoM said a heatwave warning is currently in place in the western part of the state of South Australia, adding the heatwave will develop and spread across other states such as New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, and even southern Queensland.

The Australia heatwave occurs several months after a similar catastrophic natural disaster transpired in Europe in 2022, where extreme temperatures caused wildfires and heat-related deaths.

Last year's heatwave also affected portions of Canada, the United States, as well as Asia.

What is a Heatwave?

A heatwave or is a natural phenomenon marked by a relatively prolonged and abnormal hot weather with above-average temperatures in a particular area, region, or even a continent and in a given time.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines heatwave as a period of "unusually hot weather" that usually lasts for two or more days and temperatures must be outside the historical averages for a given area.

Heatwaves are a force to reckoned with since they are serious weather phenomena that can be life-threatening.

For instance, the United States from late June to early July in 2012 observed over 8,000 warm temperature records which were either broken or tied, according to the NOAA.

These record-breaking temperatures are called heat anomalies, which can often be seen in geothermal maps as color red or orange.

2022 European Heatwave

While there have been several heatwave disasters in modern history, one of the most notable and recent of them is known as the 2022 European heatwave," which caused widespread evacuations and thousands of deaths in Spain and other countries in Europe.

According to Reuters, Europe's heatwave may have caused over 20,000 excess deaths, including not only in Spain but also France, Germany, and the UK, as temperatures hit almost 40 degrees Celsius or above from Paris to London.

The figures were based on a report compiling the official death toll, Reuters said on in November 2022.

In addition, climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution group determined that such high temperatures are "virtually impossible" without climate change.