Heatwave and storms sweep Australia and New Zealand

A mass of hot air and strong winds sweeping across Australia and New Zealand this week has driven early spring heatwaves, fanned dozens of bushfires and prompted severe storm warnings for large parts of the region, officials said. The Bureau of Meteorology and other agencies warned residents to expect extreme temperatures, damaging gusts, heavy rainfall and isolated severe thunderstorms through the coming days, with some communities already facing property damage and emergency restrictions.

Australia’s weather bureau said a powerful heat mass that built over the outback moved into the southeast on Tuesday and pushed spring temperatures well above average. Sydney’s central business district rose past 37 degrees Celsius on Wednesday while western suburbs such as Penrith and Bankstown reached about 40 degrees. Forecaster Angus Hines said, "It is still spring and we are seeing these incredibly warm temperatures." Wind gusts up to about 100 kilometres per hour increased bushfire risk and prompted total fire bans across parts of New South Wales. Authorities reported 36 fires across the state, nine of which were not yet contained.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s MetService issued...