Catastrophic fire danger for South Australia Wednesday

A potentially significant fire day is expected for South Australia during Wednesday, with catastrophic fire conditions forecast for the West Coast, Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Lower Eyre Peninsula, Mid North, Mount Lofty Ranges and Yorke Peninsula.

A cold front and prefrontal trough will shift east during Wednesday, with increasing north to north-westerly winds dragging an extremely hot and dry airmass across South Australia.

Potentially record heat is expected to build during the day, with Adelaide forecast to hit 42C, with the current November record of 43C set back in 2009 under threat. Numerous locations across the state will see temperatures soar into the 40's, with mid to potentially high 40's at some locations. These temperatures will be nearly 20C above the November average.

Strong to locally damaging winds are expected to develop across western parts of the state, before shifting east throughout the day. Sustained winds of 40-50km/h, with gusts to 90km/h expected, which may lead to downed trees and powerlines.

This intense heat coupled with strong winds and humidity below 10% is expected to lead to rapidly spreading bushfires during the afternoon and evening. Cooler conditions will move in the from the west, with gusty south-westerly winds expected in the wake of the front. This may complicate conditions for fire fighters, with fires potentially spreading on multiple fronts.

Dusts storms are also expected during Wednesday, particularly across central locations of the state fanned by strong north-westerly winds.

Image 1: Windy gusts, Wednesday afternoon. Windy.com

Image 2: SA max tempertures Wednesday afternoon. Windy.com

Image 3: SA humidity Wednesday afternoon. Windy.com

Image 4: Dust mass for SA, Wednesday afternoon. Windy.com

Image 5: SA fire danger for Wednesday. BoM