“For your survival, leave bushfire risk areas”: this is the message associated with the new Catastrophic fire rating level recently incorporated to the new Australian Fire Danger Rating System, in place from 1st of September 2022. A Catastrophic fire danger rating is considered the most dangerous category within the improved and simplified national Fire Danger Rating System, and basically implies that if a fire eventuates and takes hold, lives could be lost. 

Image: Fire Danger Ratings for today 10th December in SA.

Today, Yorke Peninsula and Lower Eyre Peninsula are the districts forecast with the first catastrophic fire danger rating of the season 2022/2023 in South Australia, while extreme ratings are in place for Eastern Eyre Peninsula and Mid North. 

These hazardous conditions come as a result of fresh-to-strong northerly-component winds blowing ahead of a trough, drawing in drier and hotter air into southern areas. This set-up has led to a total fire ban to be declared for these districts today and has also caused temperatures to soar into the mid-30s today in Adelaide (you can read more about temperatures in Adelaide here).   

Luckily for people and farmers living in these areas, this dramatic situation won’t last long, as a cooler southwesterly change moving in behind the trough will bring freshen conditions from this evening and into the coming days. 

For more information, you can find the latest fire weather warnings for SA and Australia visiting https://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings