SYDNEY: Large swaths of Australia sweltered again on Sunday through a widening heatwave, which the national weather forecaster said raised the bushfire risk in an already high-risk fire season as the country endures an El Nino weather pattern.

“Extreme” heatwave alerts, the highest danger rating, were in place for a second day for parts of Western Australia and were extended to South Australia, while areas of Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory were under “severe” warnings, the forecaster said.

It cautioned that in Western Australia, the nation’s largest state geographically, the remote Pilbara and Gascoyne areas could hit the high forties Celsius on Sunday.

In the Pilbara mining town of Paraburdoo about 1,500 km north of the state capital Perth, a high of 48 C was forecast, more than seven degrees above the average January maximum, according to forecaster data. It was 45.7 C at 12:30pm Australia’s highest recorded temperature, 50.7 C, was logged at the Pilbara’s Onslow Airport on Jan 13, 2022.

In the West Australian town of Meekatharra, Royal Mail Hotel manager Alex McWhirter said the heat could “cook you alive”.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2024