Heat records tumble as furnace-like winds blast Sydney

Professor Sebastian Pfautsch, an urban heat expert from Western Sydney University, said the weather on Wednesday did not follow the typical pattern of it being significantly hotter in the west and cooler near the coast.

Instead, the heat was more evenly spread and the overcast conditions meant shade from trees or the cooling effects of lighter roofs had no effect.

“On a day like today where we don’t have the impact of direct sunshine on our urban environment, these temperature differences that we would normally find are muted, and everybody has to deal with the heat,” Pfautsch said.

“It’s hot everywhere because what we’re dealing with is one big air mass of hot air pushing in from Central Australia, originated from the Pilbara, coming across the country, being really, really hot.”

At 8am there were 36 fires burning across the state, nine uncontrolled, with a total fire ban in place. A new fire broke out west of Newcastle, at West Wallsend, on Wednesday afternoon and was quickly out of control, before firefighters gained the upper hand.

By 6pm there were 50 fires, 12 uncontrolled. Lightning strikes, brought by the wind and “worsening conditions” left the RFS on high alert particularly in the state’s south and central areas.

Early in the morning, tourists and locals flocked to the water at sites such as Redleaf beach in the harbourside suburb of Rose Bay. Meanwhile, those out west escaped to waterways such as the Georges and Nepean rivers to beat the heat.

For residents too far from any beach it became a game of dashing between air-conditioned shopping centres, offices and homes.

In the business hub of Parramatta Square, lawyers Chantel Karaki, Daniella Sweid and Sarah Hawchar took shelter in Westfield and found comfort from the “disgusting” weather in an afternoon bubble tea.

“It’s not usually like this here, it’s terrible. It’s not a lot of sun, but a lot of humidity and hot wind,” Hawchar said.

The hot, windy weather also forced changes to the Parramatta Lanes festival’s opening night.

A planned giant boodle fight (a Filipino meal where food is put on a long table covered with banana leaves) was forced from the middle of Parramatta Square to inside the town hall, and the city’s mayor urged caution.

“I do encourage everyone that is coming today to please drink a lot of water, stay hydrated,” Lord Mayor Martin Zaiter said.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines said the conditions were “remarkably high” and “probably a one-off” that were unlikely to be replicated until the middle of summer.

“It looks likely that parts of Sydney saw record temperatures for October today, with temperatures in the very high 30s, topping out at 39.8 degrees,” Hines told Nine News.

He forecast that the weather would feel “completely different” on Thursday morning after a change sweeps through the city on Wednesday evening.

The weather bureau had earlier forecast a wet spring because of a negative Indian Ocean Dipole and a predicted La Nina, but this was upended several weeks ago by a sudden Antarctic stratospheric warming event bringing hot, dry weather.

The event saw heat spike by 35 degrees last month in a band of air 12 to 40 kilometres over the South Pole, with flow-on effects to Australian weather.

The event is known to create prime conditions for bushfires.

The landmark National Climate Risk Assessment, released last month, predicts that if Australia hits 3 degrees of warming above pre-industrial temperatures, heat-related deaths will increase by 444 per cent in Sydney (with western Sydney residents most at risk).

As a global average, temperatures have risen by 1.2 degrees since pre-industrial times. In Australia, average temperatures have already risen by 1.5 degrees.

With Kayla Olaya and Anthony Segaert

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