Catastrophic bushfire weather hits South Australia
[Looks like 2011 will be the year of Hell and High Water for Australia.] 
ABC
Sat Jan 1, 2011 10:55am AEDT Fire warnings remain in place across South Australia, though a cool change has removed the threat of catastrophic conditions. The weather bureau says temperatures started to fall across South Australia with the arrival of a south-westerly change yesterday. However very high danger ratings remain in place for the following regions today: North-West Pastoral, North-East Pastoral, West Coast, Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Flinders, Mid-North Yorke Peninsula and the Riverland. The Bureau of Meteorology says there is no likelihood of catastrophic fire conditions occurring on Sunday. Adelaide’s maximum temperature was 36.9 degrees Celsius at 11:00am on Friday, four degrees lower than forecast. The Country Fire Service was responding to grass fires at Salisbury East in Adelaide and Keith in the state’s south-east on Saturday morning.
SA facing ‘very high’ fire danger
AAP
December 30, 2010 Catastrophic bushfire conditions have been declared in six districts in South Australia on Friday as high winds and temperatures in the low-to-mid 40s combine to see out 2010. The Country Fire Service (CFS) has issued a catastrophic fire warning for the Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula, Mount Lofty Ranges, Upper South east, Lower South East and Murraylands regions. A total fire ban has been declared in all but the Adelaide, North West Pastoral and North East Pastoral districts. A hot, dry and strong northwesterly wind will blast SA on New Year’s Eve ahead of a moderate southwesterly change that will move across the state in the afternoon. Extreme bushfire conditions are forecast in the Flinders, mid North and Riverland districts, while the West Coast, Lower Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island regions are expecting severe conditions,. CFS state co-ordinator Leigh Miller has urged people to activate their bushfire plans, warning those people in areas with catastrophic conditions to leave on Thursday night or Friday morning.
