Temperatures rocket in Australia's Antarctic gateway

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For Australians looking to escape the scorching summer heat, Tasmania, the country's closest point to the South Pole, is usually a safe bet.

But that wasn't the case on Monday (December 30) when temperatures in the icy cool island's capital Hobart soared to a devilish 40.8 degrees Celsius, or 105.4 Fahrenheit.

That's the city's hottest day on record - double the average summer temperature and even higher than in some parts of the country's tropical north.

Simon McCulloch is a senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology in Tasmania.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR FORECASTER FOR THE BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY IN TASMANIA, SIMON MCCULLOCH, SAYING:

"It's been very noticeable around the state today that as the north westerly winds have kicked in the temperatures have spiked in locations, so Hobart's temperature rose about eight degrees in 10 minutes."

The unusual summer temperatures stem from extreme weather conditions that have stoked one Australia's worst ever bushfire seasons and the Tasmanian fire service's chief officer, Chris Arnol, says lightning could bring those blazes south.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) TASMANIA FIRE SERVICE CHIEF OFFICER, CHRIS ARNOL, SAYING:

"Our fire dangers have moved past severe and they're going into extreme and we're concerned that the lightning ignitions will give us a lot of problems going forward."

Back on the mainland, tens of thousands of residents and holidaymakers have been evacuated from a large area in the state of Victoria as soaring temperatures and strong winds fanned massive fires, bringing them to the northern edge of Australia's second largest city, Melbourne.