MELBOURNE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- One of Australia's coldest cities, Hobart, is heating up with the Tasmanian capital on the verge of breaking a long-standing temperature record for days in October above 29 degrees Celsius.
Matthew Thomas of Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) told the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday a record that has stood since 1963 would be eclipsed if the mercury reached its forecast top of 30 on Thursday.
In the 13 days of October to date, Hobart has experienced three days of 30-plus degree temperatures.
"If we do actually make it to 29 degrees tomorrow then that will be the fourth day within the month of 29 degrees or higher and that will be a new record," Thomas said.
Thomas revealed the city's average temperature had been 20.8 degrees thus far in October, a level of heat usually seen in summer not spring.
"(It's) 0.5 of a degree warmer than the long-term December average," he said.
"And 3.8 degrees above the normal October average."
Another Australian state, Victoria, has also been ravaged by wildly fluctuating weather in October, with an unseasonable heatwave - causing widespread bushfires - followed by storms and flash flooding.
A Victorian bushfire that scorched 3,100 hectares of land and destroyed four properties near the small community town of Lancefield was only contained by firefighters on Tuesday night, 11 days after it was lit as part of a controlled burn.
The stifling heat and dry conditions, which have sparked several fires in Tasmania as well, has forced the state's fire authority to enact fire permits across the state earlier than normal.
The permits make it illegal to light a fire in certain areas without approval.
"The southern half of the state and Flinders Island has hot points across the landscape where fires will continue to burn overnight," Tasmanian Fire Service acting chief officer Gavin Freeman told the ABC on Wednesday.
"We need to just keep a check on what fires are in the landscape so we can regulate those and ensure brigades don't turn out unnecessary to fires that people have."
