{"id":874930,"date":"2026-08-31T11:04:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874930\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T11:04:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:04:18","slug":"australia-weather-el-nino-tough-bushfire-season-expected-across-australia-as-spring-arrives-on-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874930\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia weather: El Nino, Tough bushfire season expected across Australia as spring arrives on Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Australia is in for a tough bushfire season, as a combination of below-average winter rainfall and above-average fuel loads mark the first day of spring on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Bushfire season<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Bushfire season is also locked and loaded to start earlier in all states and territories as spring begins, including a large part of the NT, according to Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council CEO Rob Webb.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3mk41m-StyledText eze0guv9\">Sign up to The Nightly&#8217;s newsletters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1r9pdr5-StyledSubText eze0guv8\">Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>By continuing you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/thenightly.com.au\/subscription-terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sevenwestmedia.com.au\/privacy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">There\u2019s a \u201cheightened risk\u201d of fire across northern and southeastern NSW, south-east Queensland, northeastern Tasmania, parts Western Australia, Victoria, and South Australia, as well as a majority of the Northern Territory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201c(The risk is) driven by a combination of dry conditions in the east and increased fuel loads through parts of central and northern Australia,\u201d Mr Webb said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cWhile some areas are facing an elevated risk of fire this spring, bushfires can still occur in regions with a normal seasonal outlook.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe variety of risk factors across different regions reinforces the need for communities to understand their local conditions and prepare early.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spring begins<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The Bureau of Meteorology has reported El Nino is gathering strength across the Pacific, which could see a \u201cvery strong\u201d weather event as summer begins across the south-east of Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">However, temperatures are expected to be mild across our major population centres for the first day of spring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">New South Wales will experience a chilly start to spring, before temperatures spike throughout the day \u2014 Sydney will see a sunny high of 28C on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Victoria will be treated to \u201cwarm\u201d and \u201cwindy\u201d conditions across the state, before conditions cool off and become cloudy in the evening. Melbourne\u2019s temperature will peak at 22C, with rain expected in the evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Queensland will be partly cloudy to start spring, and sporadic wet weather is expected across the Sunshine Coast, Central Coast, and tropical North Coast. Brisbane will see a 24C, partly cloudy maximum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">South Australia will also be warm and windy, as maximum temperatures peak in the mid 20s across the south and into the 30s in the north. Some showers are expected, and Adelaide will peak at a rainy 22C.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Showers will be scattered across Western Australia in the morning, although temperatures will become \u201cvery settled\u201d and will be heating up in the state\u2019s north. Perth\u2019s maximum will bring a party cloudy 19C.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The Northern Territory will be \u201cbright and sunny\u201d for the first day of spring, to mark the start of a gradual humidity increase as wet season begins. Darwin will see a hefty maximum of 34C.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Mild and windy conditions are expected across Tasmania, as a sunny morning is taken over by cloudy and rainy conditions. Hobart\u2019s maximum will be 19C.<\/p>\n<p>Rainfall down<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">After a relatively dry start to September, rainfall will be sporadic across the country throughout spring according to BOM climatologist Lynette Bettio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cFor spring overall, above average rainfall is likely for much of the western half of Australia while parts of the south and east, are more likely to be drier than average,\u201d Dr Bettio said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/f2f554b16619a151c73a5656ee5ad62326fbd472.jpg\" alt=\"After a relatively dry start to September, rainfall will be sporadic across the country throughout spring.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>After a relatively dry start to September, rainfall will be sporadic across the country throughout spring. Credit: Andrei Kuzniatsou\/Mr Twister &#8211; stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThere\u2019s a high chance of spring rainfall reaching at least 50 to 200 mm across most of the country, except in some inland areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe first significant rains of the northern Australian wet season are likely to be earlier than usual for most of Western Australia and adjacent parts of the Northern Territory and later than usual for the Territory\u2019s Top End and eastern parts of Queensland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The start of spring will also see warmer overnight temperatures across Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cBoth daytime and night-time temperatures during spring are very likely to be above average across much of Australia,\u201d Dr Bettio said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThere is an increased chance of unusually warm spring days across the south while much of the country is likely to experience unusually warm spring nights.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia is in for a tough bushfire season, as a combination of below-average winter rainfall and above-average fuel&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,8867,2733,701,1124,2801,660],"class_list":["post-874930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-northern-territory","tag-nsw","tag-queensland","tag-south-australia","tag-tasmania","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}