Fires continue to burn in WA following a burst of Catastrophic fire danger ratings in the state’s southwestern inland over the weekend.

A combination of hot, dry and windy weather associated with the passage of a cold front caused fire danger ratings to reach Catastrophic levels in several districts of WA on the weekend. This is the highest possible category in the Australia’s six-tiered fire danger scale.

The heat and fire danger peaked on Sunday, when temperatures reached 43 to 44ºC in some parts of the Central Wheatbelt, Great Southern and South Coastal Districts. This included 43.7ºC at Hopetoun on the state’s south coast, its highest temperature since 2017.

Fortunately, cooler weather returned to fire-affected areas of southwestern WA on Monday in the wake of a blustery cold front. This coole air reduced fire danger ratings across the region on Monday and helped authorities manage the fires that were still burning.

However, the fact that there are still fires burning may become problematic later in the week when temperatures start to climb again.

Another round of hot weather will spread through southwestern Australia between Wednesday and Saturday this week as a low pressure trough develops near the state’s west coast.

The hottest days this week will be on Thursday and Friday, when temperatures could hit the low-to-mid thirties in Perth and 39 to 42ºC around Corrigin and Merredin.

Image: Forecast surface air temperature on Thursday afternoon, according to the ECMWF model.

This upcoming heat should help cause Severe fire danger ratings in some areas already affected by fires, mainly on Thursday and Friday.

Thankfully, moisture drifting down from the tropics will also produce showers and thunderstorms across a broad area of southern and western WA from Friday, which may help extinguish some of the fires.

Check https://www.emergency.wa.gov.au/ for the latest fire emergency information in WA.