In the last couple of days Victoria has declared a heatwave and a complete fire ban in areas that have already burned, as an uncontrolled bushfire rages in the Otways. Heavy rainfall has pounded eastern and northeastern regions of Victoria a few days earlier, due to an “unusual” upper-low pressure system, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

Victoria’s emergency officials and volunteers have had a turbulent beginning to February. While firefighters battled several fires in the west of the state, an “unusual” upper-low pressure system pounded the area with rain, causing flash flooding in the east that led to hundreds of calls for help throughout Gippsland.

“It’s been a long summer, and we’ve got a long way to go.” – CFA deputy chief officer Garry Cook

Current Victoria Warnings

The Bureau of Meteorology bulletins for February 13th, 2025.

• Marine Wind Warning Summary for Victoria
• Severe Weather Warning for parts of East Gippsland, North East and West and South Gippsland Forecast Districts
• Fire Weather Warning for North Central, South West and Central fire weather districts
• Flood Warning Summary for Victoria

Weather extremes

Over the previous five years, more than 1,200 illegally lit fires have been recorded in Victoria, including 187 on days when there was a total fire ban.

At a time when fuel loads were already dry throughout the state, especially in western Victoria, and the fires endangered the entire community.

Mr. Cook remarked, “It’s tinderbox out there, right now, everything is really, really primed in terms of its ability to burn. It’s just not good enough that we have got people still lighting fires where the fire danger is that high.”

According to the Bureau, in 24 hours leading up to Monday at 9 a.m., 107.8 millimeters of rain were recorded at Mount Moornappa, and 101.4 mm in Orbost.

Responsible is a weather pattern higher in the atmosphere, between 6,000 and 12,000 meters above the ground, is known as the upper low-pressure system.

“There’s a low-pressure system there and that’s driving a lot of instability and allowing us to have these thunderstorms.  That weather was combining with south-easterly winds coming from Bass Strait. And those ingredients just generate continual storms and heavy rainfall and that’s kind of the situation we have.”

The 2024–25 Australian bushfire season is the current summer season of bushfires in Australia. At the beginning of the season temperatures had been above average to high above average for most regions, with parts of Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland experiencing highest on record maximum temperatures for the winter period. August 2024 overall in Australia was the warmest on record.

Record warm seas supercharging Australia’s weather from heatwaves to floods to cyclones

This week’s news headlines are once again dominated by Australia’s weather, with severe thunderstorms in NSW, a rapidly developing cyclone in Western Australia, and ongoing flooding in Queensland.

Southern states are baking in yet another heatwave, while the north and east are being soaked.

Wednesday’s temperatures in South Africa surged up to 18 degrees Celsius above normal, setting a new state record for February at 48.7 degrees Celsius at Oodnadatta.

Storms sweep NSW and Victoria

SES responds to more than 500 calls for assistance in NSW and warns drivers to take care after heavy rain, 21 people rescued from vehicles in Sydney flash floods.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned that severe conditions would persist as Monday’s thunderstorms brought hail, destructive winds, and flash flooding to parts of eastern Victoria and New South Wales.

Around noon, a powerful storm with dark skies and a lot of rain moved across the Sydney central business district. According to the BoM, the city had received 52.8 mm of rain at Observatory Hill since 9 a.m. by mid-afternoon. 88mm had been recorded at Horsley Park, which is 50km west of the city.

According to a spokesperson, 21 people were rescued by the State Emergency Service from cars caught in flash flooding in the Sydney metropolitan area between noon and two o’clock.

December 2024

Victorians were on high alert as firefighters battled to put out several fires throughout the state under extremely difficult circumstances on one of the state’s most dangerous fire days in years.

Throughout the state, a flurry of emergency warnings were sent out, especially in the vicinity of the Grampians fire, which has been burning for days, advising residents to evacuate right away.

Much of Victoria and inland Australia were expected to experience highs in the 30s and 40s, with a high of 47.2C recorded in Birdsville, a town in central western Queensland.

Gusts of up to 100km/h are strong enough to bring down trees and power lines and cause minor power outages, the Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Narramore said.

A high-pressure trough which brought temperatures in the high 30s to South Australia on Christmas Day was slowly trekking across the border to Victoria.

As crews worked to secure containment lines on Boxing Day, firefighters from several states sent out to support their Victorian counterparts. Victoria’s deputy premier, Ben Carroll, thanked those who sacrificed their Christmas break with family to come to Victoria and help.

AusNet, the power provider, alerted consumers that outages might be prolonged for safety reasons and that power outages might be initiated to stop bushfires from starting.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported in 2024 that Australia’s land surface has warmed by 1.5C since 1910, and that the climate crisis is making bushfire conditions more hazardous by increasing temperatures and increasing the frequency of dry spells.

Teaser image by Fifi from Pixabay.