The main purpose of this ongoing blog 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).😉
Main Topic: Australia Braces For A Historic Early Summer Heatwave
Dear Diary. Yesterday I received an alert from my partner Maximiliano Herrera that a historic late spring/early summer heatwave would be occurring across much of Australia:
Others have picked up on this event, as well:
Here is an official forecast video for Australia through this weekend. (Please click on this tweet to see a very toasty forecast):
I’ve found over the years that your best source for Australian weather news related to wildfires and heatwaves is the Sydney Morning Herald. Here is their latest article on this upcoming horrifically hot event:
Sydney temperatures set to soar over weekend as NSW heatwave forecast
By Peter Hannam
Updated November 25, 2020 — 7.05am first published November 24, 2020 — 7.15pm
Much of inland south-eastern Australia will bake in the first big heatwave of the season, with temperatures in some places forecast to exceed November averages by as much as 15 degrees.
Forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology Gabrielle Woodhouse said heatwave conditions would reach “severe” levels from Thursday in some inland regions as searing warmth sweeps in from the red centre (Click on the following link to see animation):
Spring will end with some severe heatwave conditions forecast to sweep eastwards .CREDIT:ANDREW MISKELLY, VIA WEATHERZONE
“We tend to see heatwaves at this time of year [but] it is quite warm,” Ms Woodhouse said, adding that in some areas, both minimums and maximums will reach 12-15 degrees above the long-run November averages.
For Sydney, the mercury will nudge 30 degrees in the western suburbs on Friday before heading into the low 40s on Saturday and Sunday. In the CBD itself, the tops will reach 33 and 36 degrees for Saturday and Sunday.
With the heat and some wind around, it’s “not going to take much” to elevate the fire threat, Ms Woodhouse said.
Fire danger risks will reach “very high” for the north-west region on Friday, while the southern and northern Riverina will experience “severe” fire danger on Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
The bulk of the heat will move towards the north-east of the state by Monday, Ms Woodhouse said.
Temperatures in towns like Hay and Cobar will reach 45 degrees during the hot spell.
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Humid conditions may also make the warmth uncomfortable for many, particularly as overnight temperatures will stay high.
Late spring heatwaves have become common for parts of northern NSW in particular, coming even during La Nina years such as this one when climate influences typically favour wetter-than-average conditions.
The background warming of about 1.4 degrees since 1910 because of human-induced climate change has made breaking heat records more common over time.
The La Nina set-up in the Pacific, in which rainfall patterns shift westwards towards the continent, remains in place, indicating December and much of summer should be wetter than normal, Ms Woodhouse said.
Odds favour daytime temperatures being near normal for the summer months for most of NSW, while overnight temperatures are likely to be warmer than usual right across the country, the Bureau’s outlook shows.
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Peter Hannam
Peter Hannam writes on environment issues for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
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I hope over the holiday weekend here in the United States that you will enjoy reading the linked articles from the Sydney Morning Herald that I’ve included on today’s post. It’s your homework assignment. In a real sense Australia, as a whole, is being affected more by global warming than just about any country, so far. I’ll be reporting on how extreme temperatures get there the next few days.
Elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere:
Here is more climate and weather news from Wednesday:
(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. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”