Temperatures in Victoria hit 42 degrees in the south of the state and soared just above the mid-40s in the arid northwest ahead of a cool change expected to raise the threat of serious bushfires from dry lightning strikes and wind gusts of 100 kilometres an hour.
Even before these conditions emerged three fires were burning late on Friday afternoon. The Victorian State Emergency Service issued “watch and act” notices advising residents of Rosedale in Gippsland that “leaving now” is the safest option, and advising residents of Strathbogie in the state’s central north and Tallangatta in the north to stay close to shelter.
Fire risk
No lives or property were immediately threatened but “conditions can change quickly” an SES spokesman said. On Friday morning SES state controller Tim Wiebusch warned on ABC radio that any blazes could become “uncontrollable and unpredictable”.
The fire risk is a major threat to wheat, barley and canola crops in an area of central western Victoria from Skipton and Lake Bolac up to Skipton and Ararat, and even as far west as Hamilton because harvests have had to be delayed while they dry out from drenching rains that fell in December.
Further north crops are “tinder dry” and ripe to burst into flames in the right conditions, Victorian Farmers’ Federation President David Jochinke said.
The irony is that Victorian crops have been really good in the state’s south thanks to the fortuitous combination of sunny weather and occasional rain, but days when the “heat index” is over 35 degrees are unsuitable for harvesting because of the risk of sparks from machinery lighting fires that can be hard to control.
One bright note was that the National Electricity Market had no problems coping with demand from residential air conditioners and pool pumps operating at full tilt because demand from industry at this time of year is reduced. “Supply and demand balance across the NEM is looking healthy,” a spokesperson said.
Spot prices for Victoria behaved, peaking at $291.32 per megawatt hour at 12.30pm and falling to $134.40/MWh by 5.30pm.
‘Perfect storm’
Mr Glowrey said drought coming on top of three years of poor international milk prices and the collapse through mismanagement of Murray Goulburn, the co-op turned ASX-listed dairy company had created a “perfect storm” for the industry, necessitating the cull of his herd.
Warm night time minimums in the mid-20s didn’t allow the cows to cool off sufficiently from the ubiquitous daytime heat, meaning sprinklers have to be deployed to cool them down.
Farther northwest, at Red Cliffs just outside Mildura, grape grower John Paolucci said “at the moment we have survived it but in the coming years, who knows?”
“We have had no power issues and they have managed the (Murray) river well so far.”
– with AAP
from Just News Viral http://bit.ly/2SwKMT3
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