As heat soars, firefighters brace for catastrophic conditions

As the mercury soars above 35 degrees across Sydney and NSW, the fire danger has hit extreme in most of the state and catastrophic in the Central West after soil and vegetation dried out over spring.

In Sydney, the temperature was 30.5 degrees at 10am and expected to hit 36 degrees, with no rain on the radar, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

This follows a hot, dry spring. In October, temperatures were above to very much above average across the state – the highest on record for some parts, including north-eastern parts of the state. Rainfall of 19.9 millimetres was 59 per cent below the 1961-1990 average.

The forecast for a wet spring was turned on its head after a freak heat wave above Antarctica – a “sudden stratospheric warming episode” – brought drier conditions.