For tomorrow, 2 days before the beginning of spring...
South Australia is bracing for a day of high bushfire danger tomorrow two days before the official start of spring.
...
"It is possible that there will be a number of districts subject to a total fire ban on Thursday, particularly where there is scrub or forested areas across the state," said CFS deputy state coordinator Malim Watts.
"On a day like Thursday there is potential for burn-offs to spread out of control and escalate into larger scale bushfires.
"Fires can also rekindle days or even weeks after burn-offs have occurred so it's important to continue monitoring the burnt area."
Mr Watts said South Australia experienced winds and warm weather on Tuesday and several fires began on the Eyre Peninsula from burn-offs.
From this news item from the ABC, quoted from a BoM forecaster in Adelaide...
"One thing we probably haven't seen in all this before is a fire ban for the Mount Lofty Ranges but we have one for tomorrow," he said.
"The highest temperature recorded in Adelaide is 29 [for August], we're going for 28 tomorrow so we're within one degree of our extremes."
The possibility of fire bans for today was noted in the media (and the forecasters!) a few days ago...
Also from the Bureau...
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT - BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY
SOUTH AUSTRALIA REGIONAL OFFICE
District Fire Danger Ratings for Thursday.
Issued at 5:10 pm on Wednesday, 29 August 2007
FIRE BAN DISTRICT FIRE DANGER RATING
Northwest Pastoral Not applicable
Northeast Pastoral Not applicable
West Coast Extreme in bushland areas
Eastern Eyre Peninsula Extreme in bushland areas
Lower Eyre Peninsula Extreme in bushland areas
Flinders Very High in bushland areas
Mid North Very High in bushland areas
Mount Lofty Ranges Extreme in bushland and forest areas
Adelaide Metropolitan Very High in bushland areas
Yorke Peninsula Very High in bushland areas
Kangaroo Island Very High in bushland and forest areas
Riverland Very High in bushland areas
Murraylands Very High in bushland areas
Upper South East Very High in bushland areas
Lower South East Very High in bushland and forest areas
There are similar rumblings about an early fire season being reported for western Victoria, as well.
it's a good thing the climate isn't changing <ha!>, or else we'd really be in trouble!