Differences between bushfire and heatwave weather patterns in Victoria, Australia
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Abstract
Forest fires and heat waves are dangerous natural threats in Australia. Both risks are characterized by air temperature anomalies above the climatological average. However, forest fire and heat wave climates differ in some other weather aspects. This article compares the weather patterns associated with these two types of extreme weather events in the state of Victoria, Australia. The results show that only 13% of forest fires in this region co-occur with heat waves. From a synoptic point of view, the main difference between the two events is the circulation of a cold front and its associated strong winds, on the day that forest fires occur. Additionally, heat waves are characterized by humidity patterns above the average climate on the Australian continent, while the forest fire climate occurs when there is drought in Australia. On average, an “El Niño” pattern persists in the Tropical Pacific Ocean when forest fires occur in Victoria. On the other hand, heat waves in this region generally occur in neutral conditions of the “El Niño” phenomenon. The analyzes of this research used data from meteorological stations and also from “reanalysis”. These findings suggest that using patterns of remote climatological phenomena (such as “El Niño”) associated with forest fires, may have an impact on improving the predictions, by season of the climate, that produces forest fires.
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