Australian fire services have issued what they’ve called “catastrophic” warnings in parts of that country as temperatures are expected to breach 45C in the days to come.

A massive heatwave has been holding Australia tightly in its grip for the last week. To put this in perspective, Monday’s average high temperature, Australia-wide, set a record at 40,3C. And temperatures are still expected to increase.

Hundreds of fires, fanned by winds that are gusting at up to 100km/h, have broken out across the country as a result. Many continue to burn out of control. New South Wales – the country’s most populated state – saw emergency teams tackling at least 130 blazes – 40 of which are burning out of control.

Prime minister, Julia Gillard, said yesterday on morning television:

The word catastrophic is being used for good reason. So it is very important that people keep themselves safe, that they listen to local authorities and local warnings. This is a very dangerous day.

So far nobody has died, but scores of people have been evacuated, and tens-of-thousands of hectares of land has already been destroyed.

The heat has been so intense that Australia has had to add a new colour to the top of its temperature scale map – incandescent purple. The range it covers is 52C – 54C, and they added it because they currently predict temperatures to reach 52C next week Monday. Their highest recorded temperature is 50,7C, which was set in January 1960 in South Australia.

Things are out of control in southeast Australia.

Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station, managed to capture these images of the fires yesterday. NASA used its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), on its Terra satellite, and posted its own images on its Earth Observatory website on Monday.

Follow Chris on Twitter for more.

[Sources: Guardian, UniverseToday, BusinessInsider]