Australia hit by heatwave, raising wildfire threat

Bloomberg

Australia is in the grip of another heatwave with temperatures forecast to soar over the weekend, exacerbating deadly wildfires that have ravaged the nation for months.
Severe heat will spread across the southeast of the country over the next few days, building to “extreme” conditions in some areas, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Parts of western Sydney are expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) by New Year’s Eve.
The intense weather could worsen blazes that have already burnt out more than 6 million acres of forest and bush land — and area larger than New Jersey — since the wildfire season began unusually early in winter amid widespread drought. Nine people have been killed and more than 950 properties destroyed, triggering a debate about the impact of global warming in the world’s driest-inhabited continent.
The crisis has turned the spotlight on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government, which champions the coal industry and has dismissed calls to take more steps to curb emissions. Morrison cut short a pre-Christmas family holiday to Hawaii amid a public backlash against the unannounced trip.
Australia’s New South Wales state, has borne brunt of the fires. A giant blaze northwest of Sydney, known as the Gospers Mountain fire, has destroyed more than 1.2 million acres — an area about seven times the size of Singapore.
Another massive blaze, the Currowan fire, has played havoc with holidaymakers along the coast south of Sydney.