 A weak cool change moved over the southern coastal areas bringing some relief on 30 January, including Melbourne, where the change arrived that evening, dropping temperatures to an average of .Higher temperatures returned on the following weekend with Melbourne recording its hottest day since records began in 1855, .The heat wave generated extreme fire conditions during the peak of the 2008–09 Australian bushfire season, causing many bushfires in the affected region, contributing to the extreme bushfire conditions on 7 February, also known as the Black Saturday bushfires, which claimed 173 lives in Victoria.