Much of southern Australia will likely experience temperatures up to 8C warmer than usual next week, which could lead to an increased risk of thunderstorms over wide areas.
A heat dome that has put parts of the Northern Territory under heatwave warnings will spread east and west in the coming days, before moving south in the middle of next week, the Bureau of Meteorology said .
Parts of the High Finish around Darwin have been sweltering under a heatwave for much of the past two weeks, with temperatures up to 5C above normal and reaching 41C.
The bureau's official heatwave warning is likely to remain in force for a few more days, with the heat expected to spread to the Kimberley in Western Australia and east over the Cape York Peninsula early in the week.
Angus Hines, senior meteorologist at the bureau, said on Saturday: “Some of that north-west heat will spread into central Australia. “It's going to be a gradual buildup as the heat moves in over the course of a few days from today.”
For Wednesday or Thursday, Hines said forecast models were showing temperatures 4C to 8C above average, from central WA to the New South Wales coast.
“Most of the country will see above-average temperatures,” he said.
The first part of the week would also carry a risk of thunderstorms in large areas of the south and east.
“We will see humidity increase and that combination of heat and humidity could fuel storm development in the eastern states,” Hines said.
“It's a messy map with large areas that can be unpredictable. [for storms]. It's hard to pin down the details… but there are multiple areas with thunderstorm activity Monday through Wednesday.”
Hines said the area of possible thunderstorm development was in New South Wales, Victoria, southern Queensland and northern Tasmania.
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The bureau's latest long-term outlook, updated Thursday, pointed to a warm and humid start to the summer in many areas.
Wetter than usual conditions were forecast between October and December across most of the country and, with large water reserves and wet soils, this would increase the risk of flooding in the north, east and across Tasmania, the office said.
In November, everywhere except in and around the Sydney and Brisbane areas, daytime temperatures were expected to be above average and the entire country was likely to have warmer than average nights.
Global warming, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels, has caused the Australian continent to warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius since 1910.
This September was the fourth warmest on record in Australia, after the warmest August on record.
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