A burst of hot and windy weather will cause severe fire danger ratings in parts of Victoria and SA today, with total fire bans in place for some areas.

A stream of hot northerly winds will push across southern Australia today ahead of an approaching low pressure trough and cold front.

These warm, dry and blustery winds should push temperatures into the high thirties and low forties in parts of SA and northwest Victoria, where fire danger ratings are likely to reach the Severe category in some places. Fire danger could get even higher than this in parts of SA, particularly in terms of grass fire risk.

Image: Forecast fire danger ratings and total fire bans on Thursday, February 11.

Total fire bans have been issued for today in SA's Mt Lofty Ranges, Mid North, Yorke Peninsula, Eyre Peninsula and Lower South East districts and in Victoria's Mallee and Wimmera districts.

While fire danger will be lower in Adelaide and Melbourne, it's still going to be a hot day in both cities, with forecast tops of 38'C and 34ºC, respectively.

A cool southwesterly change will sweep across SA today, reaching Adelaide in the early afternoon, before moving into western Victoria later in the afternoon and central Victoria overnight.

Some showers and thunderstorms will develop near and behind this wind change, with severe storms and heavy rain possible over SA's pastoral districts.