Arabic version: بريسبان تسجل أشد أيام سبتمبر حرارة منذ 2019

According to The Guardian, Brisbane reached 34.4C on Sunday, its hottest September day since 2019, as unseasonably hot early-spring weather raised fire risks across Australia’s east coast. Queensland fire authorities issued local fire bans for Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley as summer-like temperatures gripped the state’s south-east.

Firefighters told residents in Plainland, west of Ipswich, to prepare to leave on Sunday afternoon because of a dangerous, fast-moving bushfire near the Warrego Highway. In northern New South Wales, the Rural Fire Service issued an emergency warning for a large grass fire near Tabulam before later downgrading it.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned of unseasonal temperatures in the low to mid-30s across north-eastern NSW and south-east Queensland. Brisbane’s heat followed Queensland’s third-warmest winter on record, with temperatures 1.8C above the long-term average. Coastal areas from Gladstone to the Gold Coast were a few degrees below records for the state’s highest temperatures at the start of spring.

South-east Queensland’s fire bans followed a similar restriction for greater Sydney. Sydney reached 33C on Saturday, while maximum temperatures during the first days of September matched the city’s midsummer average of 26.4C. The Bureau said parts of eastern NSW recorded their warmest early-spring day on record.

Severe weather warnings were also in place across south-eastern Australia over the weekend, with damaging winds, rain and storms. Jumping castles were lifted by strong winds in separate incidents in Banksia, Sydney, and Mount Duneed near Geelong, sending children to hospital. A dry cool change was moving up the east coast, with milder temperatures expected from Monday.