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SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Parts of Australia, including Sydney, suffered the hottest November night on record with temperatures likely to remain high on Sunday (November 29), prompting authorities to issue a total fire ban.
Sydney CBD surpassed 40 degrees Celsius on Saturday, while swaths of western New South Wales, South Australia and northern Victoria baked at even higher temperatures near 45 degrees.
Temperatures are expected to top 40 degrees for the second day in a row on Sunday, while the Bureau of Meteorology forecast a five- or six-day heat wave in parts of northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland.
Predictions of elevated temperatures prompted the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to say that demand could exceed supply in New South Wales on Sunday afternoon.
Australia has been experiencing hotter and longer summers, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling last season a “Black Summer” due to unusually long and intense wildfires that burned nearly 12 million hectares and killed 33 people and an estimated 1,000 million animals.
The Rural Fire Service issued a total fire ban for most of eastern and northeast New South Wales by Sunday, saying there was a “very high to severe fire danger forecast” as hot and gusty winds they exacerbate dry conditions.
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