Australia’s southeast will bear the brunt of a persistent heatwave as the threat of more blazes breaking out remains extreme.
The heatwave will be felt sharply in NSW on Saturday, with a sweltering 43C forecast for Sydney and even higher in its western suburbs, while temperatures in Victoria drop by half.
Central and western NSW will also sweat it out, with Bourke forecast to reach 42C and Dubbo up to 40C.
Temperatures in Canberra are forecast to reach 37C.
The Bureau of Meteorology said damaging winds were expected to develop over parts of southeast NSW on Saturday morning.
West to northwesterly winds are likely to strengthen ahead of a trough that will move through the southeast of the state on Sunday.
The Rural Fire Service has declared a total fire ban for NSW and the ACT due to hot, dry and windy conditions.
Fire danger is rated at extreme in five regions including Sydney.
Fire crews are patrolling the NSW side of the Murray River as conditions deteriorate and fires threaten to spread from Victoria across the border.
“People in those areas need to be aware of that potential, particularly under hotter and windier conditions … and people need to take action now,” NSW Rural Fire Service southern border district manager Tom McDevitt said.
Victorian cities and towns can look forward to a reprieve with temperatures halving to the mid-20Cs on Saturday.
Temperatures hit 43C in Melbourne on Friday – the city’s hottest day since the Black Summer of 2019-2020.
The welcome relief comes after a blaze at Longwood, in Victoria’s north, scorched more than 35,000 hectares on Friday.
Three people – two adults and a child – are unaccounted for after being urged to shelter at their Longwood East property.
The state is not yet clear of fire danger as the combination of an arid landscape, dry lighting and erratic winds could ignite blazes.
The strong southwesterly wind change has prompted the bureau to issue severe weather warnings for damaging winds of up to 90km/h stretching from the South Australian interior to eastern Victoria.