First, let's have a look at what we did see on Monday. And South Australia observed some incredibly high temperatures, reaching 49.5 °C at Ceduna, which is an all-time record for that location. And quite a few other places around South Australia, north-west Victoria, inland New South Wales and south-west Queensland did peak above 45 °C.
We are still expecting hot weather to come, and so having a look now at Tuesday, this map does show where we are expecting forecast maximum temperatures of above 40 °C. The peak of the heat will come in Victoria today, 45 °C in Melbourne, the high 40s across the Mallee. We could see some records being broken across not just Victoria, but also parts of South Australia and western New South Wales, getting up into the mid to high 40s yet again.
But quite notably, we are seeing a drop in temperatures from the west. We do see temperatures falling quite significantly across western and southern parts of South Australia, and that's due to this dry south-westerly wind change coming through. But before we do track that cool change, let's have a look at the fire danger ratings for Tuesday. With very high temperatures, we are expecting elevated fire dangers yet again, peaking for Victoria and South Australia and reaching extreme levels for some areas.
But of particular concern is a bushfire in the Otway Ranges National Park. We are seeing that bushfire today, and that could expand quite significantly with temperatures reaching the mid 40s, as well as those gusty winds coming through from the north and then from the south-west.
And so having a look at that cool change, we can actually track that by looking at the winds. We can see here through South Australia these cooler southerly winds pushing through, and through the afternoon we'll see that cool change gradually making its way across the Adelaide metro area. Through the afternoon, we can see that pushing through parts of south-east South Australia and western Victoria, and it's forecast to reach that bushfire across the Otway Ranges about 5 or 6:00, and then gradually see that cool change pushing through Melbourne and then northern parts of Victoria as we head into the evening.
But as that cool change pushes through, there is a possibility of smoke from that bushfire pushing across Melbourne and Geelong. So we can see here, as that cool change pushes through on Tuesday evening, the south-westerly winds may push smoke all the way into the city and create some quite challenging conditions for those who are a bit more susceptible to smoke.
So now having a look at the next few days, starting off with Wednesday, we do see much cooler conditions across the south coast, 23 °C in Melbourne, still reaching the low 30s in Adelaide, but very hot further north, where that cool change doesn't really make it quite far enough. We do see temperatures pushing up to 50 °C across parts of outback Queensland.
The fire danger ratings also do show high to extreme fire dangers in the south, and that's because we are still seeing some quite gusty winds coming through from the south, and with no rainfall expected with this cool change. So we are still expecting to see elevated fire dangers, including across some parts of Victoria.
So now having a look at Thursday, we do see hot conditions continuing right across the interior of the country. And that's because the heat has nowhere to go. And so what we see is it circulates around central Australia. Temperatures again reaching up into the high 40s across parts of South Australia, and also a very hot day across western New South Wales.
On Friday, we see those northerly winds return, Adelaide jumping back up to 42 °C and back up to the high 40s all the way up into the interior. Very much the same as we head into Saturday, but we'll gradually start to see a more significant change coming through. You can see those much cooler southerly winds, and that will make it quite a bit further north as we head into the weekend.
And so Sunday will finally see that heat moving away from the southern coastline and contracting into central Australia. But it does mean that those hot days in south-western parts of Queensland are set to continue all the way into Sunday, and possibly even beyond.
So with possibly record-breaking temperatures and dangerous fire weather conditions across the south-east of the country, it is important that you stay up to date with the latest information and warnings, you can get these on our website and our app.
