More than 100 wildfires developed last week across southeast Australia leading to the worst fire crisis in decades.
In Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, the fires raged for nearly a week before firefighters finally gained the upper hand on the largest blazes.
In total, more than 125,000 hectares (300,000 acres) of land were consumed by the fires that took thousands of firefighters to contain.
On Thursday, a man flying a water-bomber plane and trying to douse a bush fire with water was killed when the plane crashed, sparking a new fire in Budawang National Park. A second man died when he suffered from a fatal heart attack trying to save his home.
Much of the focus is now shifting toward locating wildlife that have been injured or displaced by the recent wildfires.
The animal rescue group WIRES, combined with many local residents have already been searching scorched areas for surviving animals that need aid following the most recent wildfires according to Strait Times.
The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service stated, while it is unclear how many animals have been killed, thousands have likely been affected.
Since July, Sydney, Australia, has only received 116 mm (4.59 inches) of rainfall, or about 36 percent of the normal rainfall. Temperatures have also been about 6 degrees above average.
The combination of the extremely dry weather, unseasonable warmth and rounds of gusty winds has produced the ideal conditions for wildfires spark and spread rapidly over southeast Australia.
After temperatures rose 20 degrees above normal on Tuesday, more seasonable temperatures with occasional showers will prevail through at least the upcoming Tuesday. Breezy winds, however, could also return on Tuesday.
Dry conditions will resume for Wednesday and Thursday, but not blazing heat.
Looking ahead, rainfall is expected to remain below normal as Australia heads into spring. That would keep the stage set for more wildfires to ignite, especially on any hot and windy days that unfold.
AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Courtney Spamer contributed content to this story.
Comments that don't add to the conversation may be automatically or manually removed by Facebook or AccuWeather. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.
The risk of wildfires will continue into April over the southern High Plains as drought prevails.
Northeastern Queensland is being put on alert for the danger of a land-falling severe tropical cyclone later this weekend.
El Niño may make a comeback later this year, impacting the weather across the United States during fall and winter.
Farmers across the Southeast are working to maintain their fruit harvests after a prolonged freeze left behind major crop damage.
Residents from Barcelona, Spain, to Nice, France, will face the risk of flooding rain into the start of the weekend.
A storm bringing a dramatic drop in temperatures will threaten Colorado with accumulating snow through Friday morning.
A stormy pattern extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean will set the stage for multiple rounds of severe weather over the south-central part of the nation well into April.
The early spring can make for a good time to jumpstart your spring garden, especially for plants that can withstand lingering shots of cold air.