THE intense heat that has engulfed most parts of the Western Division is largely because of exposure to longer periods of sunshine combined with heat from the ocean and infrequent showers.
This, according to director of the Fiji Meteorological Service Alipate Waqaicelua.
"It feels a lot warmer now because of a few things happening at the same time," he said.
"The sun is almost overhead, causing the daytime period to be longer, thus exposing Fiji to prolonged heating time. Our ocean atmosphere interaction is such that they supplement this heating.
"Though showers do occur, they are not frequent or heavy enough to offset the warm land and sea atmosphere enveloped over Fiji."
Mr Waqaicelua said while there were no indications of natural disasters this week, the onus was on all residents to always be prepared.
"There are no definite signs for a tropical cyclone to form within this coming week, but as we are still in the cyclone season, we should be always prepared ."