Australia weather bureau sees no sign of cooler weather or rain to quell bushfires

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE: (HRNW) Australia weather agency sees no sign of cooler weather or significant rainfall in the next few months, an unwelcome forecast for authorities who have warned that only a large downpour will halt bushfires sweeping across the country.

Following Australia’s hottest and driest year on record in 2019, the Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday temperatures were likely to remain higher than average over the next few months.

While there was some rainfall coming from the north it would not be enough to douse the bushfires raging in the country’s southeast, the bureau said.

“While the rainfall will be welcome, we’re stopping short of saying that it’s going to be drought-breaking or really relieving the conditions we’ve seen,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Manager of Climate Monitoring, Karl Braganza, told reporters at a briefing on its annual climate statement.