Hot winds swept across Australia and New Zealand today, fueling bushfires and temperatures soaring above 40C in parts of Sydney.

The fire season is usually recorded from November to February — spring to summer for the southern hemisphere.

In Australia they rage 36 fires along the southeastern part of the country

Winds of up to 100 km/h forced authorities to issue multiple outdoor fire bans across New South Wales, the country’s most populous state.

At midday the temperature in Sydney’s central business district was 37C, while the western suburbs of Penrith and Bankstown reached 40C.

“It’s still spring and we’re seeing these extremely high temperatures,” Australian Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Angus Hines said.

Rare warning and fires in New Zealand too

In New Zealand’s Tasman Sea authorities have issued “red” level wind warnings for central and southern parts of the country, a rarity as they are only issued for the most extreme weather events.

Firefighters near Kaikoura in the South Island and Hawke’s Bay in the North Island battled wildfires spread by high winds.

So far, the fires they have destroyed a lot of propertyincluding five houses.

The government announced today at noon in state of emergency the Canterbury region to help deal with extreme weather conditions.

The country’s weather service said it expected wind gusts of up to 150km/h along the South Island’s east coast and 140km/h around the capital Wellington for tomorrow, Thursday.

Heavy rains are also expected in parts of the country.

Authorities urged residents to stay indoors, avoid travel and prepare for possible power and telecommunications outages.

The warnings came after strong winds and heavy rain left thousands without power yesterday and a man was killed in a Wellington park when a tree trunk fell on him.