Sydney, Nov 8 : Much of Australia is facing a hot and wet summer, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has forecast.

"Overall the maximum and minimum temperatures have been well above average for the whole year, so the next three months are no exception," BoM hydrologist Masoud Edraki told Australian Community Media newspapers on Friday.

"People will need to be prepared for heat stress and the risk of fire."

The BoM's long-range forecast for December to February showed that warmer-than-average days and nights would be either likely or very likely across most of Australia, Xinhua news agency reported.

For Australia, the BoM warned that unusually high minimum temperatures would be very likely.

It predicted that Darwin, Australia's capital city, would have a 99 per cent chance of recording overnight average summer temperatures in the top 20 per cent of all time.

The national capital of Canberra would have a 75 per cent chance of recording an extreme summer overnight average temperature, the BoM said, with Sydney a 73 per cent chance.

The long-range forecast said that summer rainfall is 60-80 per cent likely to be above average for the east coast. Rainfall in the majority of Australia was expected to be within the typical summer range.

The forecast was released as northeastern Australia endures a heatwave. Temperatures in much of the state of Queensland were forecast to exceed 35 degrees Celsius on Friday, prompting total fire bans and health warnings.

/IANS