Australia hit by driest August on record -bureau

SYDNEY, Sep 4 (Reuters) Australia faced a widespread risk of bushfires and worsening water shortages after its driest August since records began in 1900 and its warmest August since 1950, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said today.

Lack of rain exacerbated a very dry period that most of southern Australia had experienced since late 1996 and eastern Australia since 2002, bureau director Geoff Love said.

''Water storages are already severely stressed and many areas have not had substantial relief rainfall for many years,'' he said in a statement.

''If the current low rainfall and high temperatures persist, the consequences will be wide-ranging, including an elevated bushfire risk this coming summer and escalating water shortages and restrictions,'' he said.

The prospect of soaking rains over the next few months did not look promising, Love said.

A return to dry weather follows Australia's worst drought in 100 years in 2002, which devastated crops. With lingering bouts of very dry weather after 2003, farmers say Australia is in a five-year drought which is showing no sign of ending soon.

''Rainfall deficiencies expanded over southern Australia with record low winter falls over a large part of southern Western Australia and parts of southeastern Australia,'' the bureau's National Climate Centre said in a separate statement today.

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