Thursday 28 September 2017

Birdsville breaks Queensland weather record as mercury hits 42.5C

Extract from The Guardian

Outback town swelters through record-breaking September day as Brisbane braces for a blast of hot air

Birdsville in outback Queensland
The outback town of Birdsville recorded 42.5C on Wednesday afternoon, surpassing the state record by 0.1C. Photograph: Warwick Barr/AAP


The hottest September day for a Queensland town has been recorded at Birdsville but while locals are sweltering, the national record maximum temperature for spring is set to remain unbroken.
The mercury rose to 42.5C on Wednesday afternoon, surpassing the previous state record by 0.1C and it’s expected to stay there before a cool change brings relief to the area on Wednesday afternoon, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said.
There’s a small chance temperatures will surpass the national record of 43.1C, which was set in Roebuck outside Broome in Western Australia in 2003.
But that’s not likely, the BoM spokesman says.
After the scorching temperatures on Wednesday, conditions around Birdsville are expected to ease back to the average maximum of 30C, with a drop of about 12C forecast.


More hot weather across northern & eastern Australia over the next few days. Latest fire weather warnings are here http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/warnings/ 
The heat comes as outback Queensland is being hit by a blast of hot air drawn down from the country’s north.
As the the warm air mass moves towards the coast on Thursday, temperatures in Queensland’s south-east are expected to spike.
Brisbane is expecting 26C on Wednesday but 36C has been forecast for Thursday. Places west of the capital will be hotter, including Ipswich, where temperatures may rise to 39C.
Much of the state remains at very high to severe risk of fire danger and fire bans will be extended across much of the south-east on Thursday.
Temperatures in the outback New South Wales town of Bourke on Wednesday could reach 41C, smashing the state heat record for September, which was broken on Saturday when Wilcannia hit 40.5C.
Regions north of the Bourke up to the Queensland border could even reach 42C, the weather bureau says.
“After today, temperatures in Bourke will fall back from potentially 41C to 28C on Thursday,” a BoM spokesman said.
Forecasters told the ABC that the series of significant temperature records were “quite exceptional”.
Scott Williams, senior forecaster on the BoM’s extreme weather desk, said the record-breaking heat was an “unusual, intense, early-season event”.
“Some [of the predicted temperatures] would break records by as much as two to three degrees, so it’s very significant,” he said.

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