‘Lethal mix’ to boost fire risk
A “DANGEROUS cocktail” of hot and dry weather has firefighters bracing for more extreme bushfires across Queensland this summer.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued the alarming warning yesterday, as it predicted fewer cyclones and no significant rainfall until late in the season.
It comes as there are severe fire danger warnings for the Central Highlands and Coalfields, Darling Downs and Granite Belt regions today.
Bureau of Meteorology state manager Bruce Gunn said Queensland had broken records for the intensity of fire weather conditions early in the season.
“The rainfall outlook for the remainder of 2019 shows well below normal chances of above average rainfall,” he said.
“So combined with warmer average temperatures and increased chance of heatwaves on top of the last few years of rainfall deficit, it’s a pretty dangerous cocktail for fire weather conditions for the rest of this year.
“In terms of fire danger, we’re seeing about 29 more days of very high fire danger or greater compared to what we saw in 1950. We’re seeing the first occurrence of fire danger days earlier in the spring and in the southwest of the state, it’s even into late winter.”
IT REALLY ONLY TAKES ONE CYCLONE – IT ONLY TAKES ONE EVENT TO MAKE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON PEOPLE’S LIVES BRUCE GUNN
Mr Gunn said warmer average temperatures, heatwaves and severe thunderstorms were also threats, as was “major flooding”.
“Parts of Queensland will undoubtedly experience major flooding or a tropical cyclone before the end of the 2019-2020 season,” he said.
“The total number of tropical cyclones nationally overall is probably going to be a little bit less than normal but it really only takes one cyclone – it only takes one event to make a significant impact on people’s lives.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that in the past decade, Queensland had been “impacted by more than 80 significant natural disaster events, resulting in the tragic loss of life and more than $15.7 billion in damage to public infrastructure”.
Planning Minister Cameron Dick yesterday said the start to the bushfire season in the state was “unprecedented”, with the possibility of “more fires, more floods and cyclones as summer comes”.