Yahoo! 7 News

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/local/5302387/scorchers-climate-change/

February 5, 2009, 2:36 pm

Protracted warm, dry weather in NSW has prompted speculation among meteorologists that climate change could be to blame.

After a week of temperatures in the high-20s to mid-30s, Sydney is set to fry under scorching 40-plus temperatures at the weekend, with extreme fire danger in the city's west.

Senior NSW Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) climatologist Perry Wiles has not ruled out a link between climate change and the spate of hot weather.

"Climate change is not only increasing average temperatures, but also the frequency and severity of extreme temperature events," Mr Wiles said in a statement.

"While any one event cannot be attributed to climate change, this heat wave is certainly consistent with that expectation. In a warming world we can expect similar extreme events more often."

Temperatures are predicted to reach 44 degrees in Sydney's west on Sunday, and as high as 47 in the state's west.

The hot, dry and windy conditions are expected to bring very high to extreme fire danger to much of NSW and the ACT.

A southerly change forecast to sweep across NSW late on Sunday should bring an end to the heatwave but will not be accompanied by any "significant" rainfall, the BoM says.

The hot weather has also prompted calls from authorities to beware of the dangers of leaving children and animals in vehicles.

"It may be tempting for parents to think they will just be a few minutes and therefore it's okay to leave the children but they are putting their children's lives at grave risk," NSW Community Services Minister Linda Burney said in a statement.

The inside of a car quickly becomes a "baking oven" on hot days and heat kills children three times more quickly than it does adults, Ms Burney said.