Extreme Temperature Diary- December 29th, 2018/ Topic: More Australian Heat

guyonclimate_mi5tor

Saturday December 29th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😊. 

More Australian Heat

A South African heat wave I highlighted a couple of days ago turned out to be short lived and not too severe. Simultaneously on the other side of the planet a new Australian heatwave was commencing. This one appears to be the more newsworthy of the two. I’m beginning to get indications of some “ETs,” this time from Down Under as the Southern Hemisphere summer moves into high gear:

Today I will cobble together more social media and news articles in association with this post Christmas heat wave. Let’s start with information coming from the best source… The Australian Weather Bureau:

 

Yesterday we dealt with the subject of how YouTube can be used for climate disinformation. Of course, YouTube is now being utilized by many government services around the planet to spread great legitimate information and advise. As usual, check the source. In this case click the following link for great information on this current heat wave:

Here is a model forecast through this weekend:

News sources from this country are also picking up on the Australian heat:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/12/27/australia-heat-wave-temperatures-soar-above-120-degrees-near-record/2423556002/

Quoting Doyle Rice of USA Today:

A record-shattering heat wave continued to scorch Australia on Thursday as temperatures soared above 120 degrees in some spots. 

The extreme heat has spurred on health warnings, air quality alerts and fire bans across the nation. High temperatures are forecast to be in the 105- to 120-degree range into the weekend in many locations. Nighttime won’t offer much relief, either, as temperatures will remain well above normal. 

Though heat isn’t unusual in Australia this time of year, the level and duration of the heat wave are extreme. High temperature records have already been set in four states, news.com.au, an Australian news site said.

 A blistering high temperature of 120 degrees reported Thursday in Marble Bar, Western Australia, was only 3 degrees below the continent’s all-time record high temperature of 123 degrees, set in 1960 in Oodnadatta. 

The Northern Territory has already had a brutally hot month: “Forget frying an egg on the footpath, in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, you could roast a whole chook in the main square, as the town heads toward its 28th day above 104 degrees this December,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. 

(A chook, for those of us who don’t live Down Under, is Australian slang for a chicken.)  

Forecaster Bradley Wood of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said Tennant Creek’s month in the cauldron “completely smashes their previous record.” 

Unfortunately, the bureau said “there is little relief in sight with heatwave conditions likely for at least the next week across parts of Australia.” 

“The cause of the heat is a dome of high pressure settling in over much of the continent over the past few days,” CNN meteorologist Gene Norman said. 

In addition to the blistering heat, the bureau has also issued fire warnings for parts of South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. 

Summer is just getting started in Australia along with the rest of the Southern Hemisphere. “This is the first month of summer, so there is a long way to go for much of the country,” meteorologist Jonathan How told the Guardian. 

“At the moment the bureau is forecasting a warmer and drier summer than normal, so this could really just be a taste of things to come,” How said.

Let’s look at the head dome over Australia from today, December 29th 2018:

I’m impressed with how strong the ridge is looking at the 588 decameter contour., which is exactly over the worst of the heat.

As we know carbon pollution is making these deadly heat waves much more common during summer. We can chalk up another one on the planet for 2018.

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Here is more weather and climate news from Saturday:

(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have  put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity.)

 

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The Climate Guy

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