I See Red, I See Red, I See Red… More Australian Record Heat
This is becoming a weekly thing, reporting on another heat wave from Australia. The summer of 2019 there is becoming more historic and brutal with each passing day, although most Aussies can get indoors into air conditioning to escape the heat. A smile did cross my face when I saw the following tweet, referencing lyrics from Split Enz, a quirky Australian musical group from the 1970s and early 80s that became Crowded House:
You can scroll through Bob’s tweets to see many more ETs from Australia set over the last few days:
Topping all the lists was Adelaide, one of Australia’s largest western cities:
More details about this heat, closely associated with climate change can be found in this Seattle Times piece:
Quoting the article published today:
115.9 degrees! Australian city Adelaide sets new national heat record
Originally published January 24, 2019 at 3:43 am
Updated January 24, 2019 at 6:20 am
ADELAIDE, Australia — Adelaide sweltered through the highest temperature ever recorded by a major Australian city on Thursday, peaking at a searing 115.9 degrees Fahrenheit as the drought-parched nation heads toward potentially the hottest January on record.
The South Australia state capital city of 1.3 million people beat its previous 80-year-old record of 115 F set on Jan. 12, 1939, and records tumbled in smaller towns across the state.
Adelaide’s Red Lion Hotel promised free beer if the mercury topped 113 F but only while it exceeded that benchmark. Bar manager Stephen Firth said the pub ran dry after giving away more than 700 liters (185 gallons) of beer over more than two hours.
“We probably thought it would come around one day, but we didn’t think it would be for such a prolonged period,” Firth said.
Adelaide beat the heat record set by Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, of 46.4 C (115.5 F) set in 2009.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Rob Sharpe said he would not be surprised if January becomes Australia’s hottest on record with heat wave conditions likely to persist.
Last year was Australia’s third-warmest on record.
Heat wave conditions combined with a prolonged drought across much of Australia’s southeast have led to scores of major wildfires during the southern hemisphere summer.
Along with the heat there were fire concerns across much of southern Australia on Thursday:
The following article, unfortunately, reported that about 90 wild horses died from the heat:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/australia-heat-wave-1.4991164
This photo shows dead free-roaming feral horses at a dried-up water hole near the Santa Teresa community, in the Northern Territory, Australia, on Thursday. The Central Land Council found 90 of these horses dead or dying, which they believe is due to to the extreme heat. (Ralph Turner/Australian Associated press/EPA-EFE)She
Let’s take a look at the heat dome over Australia from Thursday (today Dear Diary):
It’s no surprise that a better than 591 decameter ridge is parked over the area with the hottest conditions in southern Australia.
I’m quite sure that January 2019 will be the hottest month in Australia’s history. We’ll report this officially when statistics are tabulated in early February.
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Here is some more climate and weather news from Thursday:
(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