Sydney recorded its hottest November night on Sunday. The Australian city faced daytime temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), as a heatwave swept the city over the weekend.

The overnight temperature did not drop below 25.3 degrees Celsius Saturday into Sunday in central Sydney, according to the meteorology bureau, making it the hottest November night since records began, AFP reported.

“New South Wales is in the midst of a severe heatwave with very warm conditions already being experienced yesterday, and today being a repeat of some of those conditions,” said the Bureau of Meteorology’s Agata Imielska.

The heatwave has come just two weeks after government scientists warned that the country should brace themselves, as increasing climate change will continue to worsen the intensity of catastrophic bushfires, droughts and cyclones. 

Significantly, in spite of a ban on lighting fires in some areas of the New South Wales (NSW) state, a number of blazes broke out on Sunday, including one in Sydney’s outskirts that reportedly damaged a property. 

This was the first burst of catastrophic bushfire activity since the 2019-2020 fires, which burned a massive area of land, forcing thousands to flee their homes and leaving 33 people dead.  

Notably, Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison has repeatedly the denied the link between climate change and the bushfires, and is committed to maintaining Australia’s position as one of the world’s leading fossil fuel exporters.