Australians will be cranking up the pedestal fans, as extreme heatwave conditions sear across most of the country.

Temperatures have soared above average across much of the continent, peaking at 49.1°C (120.38°F) in the town of Marble Bar in Western Australia, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

“This is the face of climate change,” Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a Belgian climate scientist and former vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said in a tweet earlier this week.

Since Tuesday, severe to extreme heatwave conditions have been affecting the country, with the highest intensity areas including Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, and inland Victoria, the BOM reports. Queensland has been experiencing low intensity conditions.

The heatwave has expanded across South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, and even northeast Tasmania, and is expected to remain static over the weekend before reducing intensity by Monday.

Source: www.yahoo.com