Extreme heatwave: all-time temperature records fall across parts of Australia

Extract from The Guardian

Australia weather

Australia had its warmest ever December on record and temperatures this week nudged 50C in some places

• Coping with extreme heat: share your photos

Lisa Cox and agencies

Thu 17 Jan 2019 12.36 AEDT Last modified on Thu 17 Jan 2019 17.21 AEDT

Nine places in New South Wales broke temperature records during an extreme heatwave that has hit Australia, and hot weather is forecast to continue. Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

Temperature records have been broken in towns across parts of Australia sweltering through a heatwave, which is currently in its fourth day.
Australia also recorded its hottest December on record the Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday in a special climate statement on “the unusual extended period of heatwaves” across much of the country.
December 27 was the hottest on record for nationally averaged mean maximum temperature (40.19C) and the second hottest day on record for any month.
Nine places in New South Wales broke temperature records on Wednesday – including six all-time records, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Whitecliff, in the state’s north-west, recorded the highest maximum temperature in NSW of 48.2C just before 3.30pm – an all-time high for the area.

Far-western towns of Wilcannia, Menindee and Ivanhoe are all tipped to reach 48C on Thursday, as the high-intensity heatwave continues.
The NSW-Victoria border cities of Albury and Wodonga reached their hottest day on record, at 45.3C.
The Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday confirmed the statistics for the past 24 hours, warning there was more hot weather on the way.

“The extreme heatwave across northern Victoria produced a few records yesterday: 45.3C in Albury-Wodonga was its hottest day on record, that record spanning over 30 years,” senior meteorologist Rod Dickson said.

Other centres posted in the record books, with Mangalore, two hours north of Melbourne, reaching 44.8C, its hottest January day on record. And the northern township of Yarrawonga’s maximum of 45.7C was its equal hottest day.
“Broadly speaking across the north yesterday temperatures ranged between 45 and 46 degrees, so some pretty extreme heat,” Dickson said.
Overnight brought only slight relief, as temperatures dipped to about 27C.
Over the past three days, maximum temperatures across South Australia have been running 10 to 14 degrees above average.
In its climate statement for the past month, the Bom also said Christmas Day had been Australia’s warmest Christmas since records began, and Boxing Day was also the warmest on record.
“Australia’s overall mean temperature for December was the highest on record, 2.13C above the 1961–1990 average and more than 0.3C warmer than the previous record from 1972,” the Bom said.
“Record high State and Territory averaged mean temperatures were also seen in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory; Western Australia and South Australia were second-warmest, and Queensland was third-warmest.”
The climate statement said Australia’s mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures for December were also record warm, with the mean minimum more than half a degree above the previous record from 1972.
Numerous states this week have enacted health warnings related to the heatwave, which is ongoing.

Sujata Allan is a member of Doctors for the Environment and works as a GP in Blacktown, where temperatures regularly exceed those in the CBD.
She has spent six years working on and off in western Sydney, which can have maximum temperatures that are as much as 10C higher than in coastal areas, and sees the impact a changing climate can have on human health.
“Western Sydney has a lot of people who are more at risk. Western Sydney has some of the most economically disadvantaged people in the country and higher rates of chronic illness.”
Allan said she had treated one patient for heat stress this week who worked in a factory that wasn’t well-ventilated, and she regularly sees elderly patients who struggle in the heat if they don’t drive and have poor public transport connections.
Some regional centres posted record highs on Tuesday, including Port Augusta and Tarcoola where the mercury climbed close to 50C.
Tarcoola was among the hottest spots again on Wednesday with a top of 48.7C while Coober Pedy had 47.8C and Woomera 47.6C.
SA’s State Emergency Service is maintaining an extreme heatwave emergency warning and the state government has declared a code red during the current conditions.
Total fire bans are in place across much of central NSW, stretching from the Victorian border up to Queensland.
Temperatures in Sydney’s west are expected to climb as high as 45C by Friday, ahead of an expected cool change on Saturday.

Authorities are again warning people to take extra care in the heat by staying indoors, keeping hydrated and limiting physical activity during the extreme heat.