The Northern Territory has recorded its hottest October ever, with nearly 8 million hectares affected by uncontrolled bushfires. Greg Browning, a senior forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology, reported that temperature records were shattered across the region. "Overall, it was nearly 3 degrees above the long-term average for maximum, minimum, and mean temperatures across the Northern Territory, which were all highest on record," he stated.

Browning emphasized the significance of the heat, saying, "Basically, Northern Territorians have just sweltered through the warmest October on record, and that's records going back to the start of the 20th century, so 1900. If you thought it felt warm, that's because it was — objectively and subjectively."

Several locations set records for their hottest October days, including Rabbit Flat at 44 degrees Celsius, Jervois at 43.2 degrees, and Victoria River Downs at 42.8 degrees. The Northern Territory has been under a heatwave warning for 24 consecutive days.

The extreme heat contributed to a severe bushfire season in the region. According to the North Australia and Rangelands Fire Information (NAFI) website, approximately 7.98 million hectares have burned, an area larger than Tasmania and equivalent to 35 percent of Victoria. Rohan Fisher, NAFI coordinator, noted that dry lightning storms sparked fires in the Barkly, northern Gulf, and Tanami Desert, leading to extensive damage.

"One of the biggest fires that started was a few hundred kilometers west of Tennant Creek," Fisher explained. "I tracked that storm coming in, and there were four different ignitions that coalesced into this one massive fire cluster, which has been burning for the last few weeks. That was the main event."

Fisher added that the ten largest fires in Australia this year have all occurred in the Northern Territory or the Kimberley region of Western Australia. "It's a huge amount of land that's been burnt," he said. "I think [these fires], although they don't impact life and property so directly, they're still important and they still need to be understood and seen."

The fires have not only affected remote areas. In the Top End, Nutwood Downs lost over 250,000 hectares, nearly 60 percent of the property, while Scott Creek cattle station saw 76,000 hectares burned, representing about 75 percent of its total area. So far this year, more than 26 million hectares have been scorched in the Northern Territory.