SYDNEY, 06 September, 2026 (Kamran Raja) – Sydney is experiencing an unseasonably hot spring spell, with temperatures in the New South Wales capital expected to reach 33 degrees Celsius, nearly 13 degrees above average, according to Australia’s weather forecaster. At Sydney Airport, the temperature had already reached 28.6 degrees Celsius at 11:30 a.m. local time, more than seven degrees above the September mean maximum temperature, forecaster data showed. The forecaster warned that fresh to strong and gusty northwesterly winds developing during the morning, combined with dry and unusually warm conditions, would result in elevated fire dangers across the Greater Sydney Region. State fire authorities issued a total fire ban for Sydney and rated the fire risk as “extreme”, the second-highest danger rating. Climate change is making extreme heat and fire weather more common in Australia, a bushfire-prone country of around 27 million people. In January, thousands of firefighters battled bushfires in southeastern Australia that destroyed homes, disrupted power supplies and burned large areas of bushland.