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Antarctica has recently undergone a phenomenon known as Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW), which has led to unusual weather patterns affecting parts of Australia. Notably, regions in New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia have seen a decrease in rainfall, accompanied by hot and dry winds.
This shift in weather conditions has resulted in drier environments and increased the potential for bushfires, as fuel loads have become more combustible in these areas.
SSW is characterized by a swift rise in temperatures over polar regions, causing a disturbance in the polar vortex. This vortex consists of strong winds that usually circulate around Antarctica.
Consequently, eastern Australia is experiencing reduced rainfall, while areas in the south and west have witnessed an increase, as the altered polar winds have shifted westward.
These changes are expected to also influence weather patterns during the upcoming summer months.
“Much of Australia should experience a warmer than normal summer,” Weatherzone’s Ben Domensino said.
“While the recent SSW brought healthy rainfall to parts of Australia’s southern states, NSW and Qld experienced a number of very hot, dry and windy spells in spring. This has helped dry out the landscape, elevating fire fuel loads for summer.”
Fire danger is likely to be higher in New South Wales, as well as southern and central Queensland in December.
Parts of Australia will actually experience wetter summers due to weak La Nina conditions on the eastern seaboard.
Domensino warns this could actually increase the chance of bushfires in some regions.
“Lightning has the potential to ignite fires, especially across dry landscape, as they have already done numerous times this season,” he said.