In a bizarre confluence of weather events, much of Australia's east coast is being told to brace for dangerous thunderstorms at the same time as Sydney faces an extreme fire threat.
Get ready for more frequent heatwaves and bushfires, but fewer cyclones - that's the message from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) in its newly released long-range forecast.
LIVE: Residents in multiple locations across NSW have been told to prepare to evacuate as rain sweeps into the Gippsland region of Victoria where at least one home has been lost to bushfire.