The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary 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 Sees It’s Hottest Temperature on Record
Dear Diary. Today I could have used for my main topic the brand-new assessments from this Thursday by NASA and NOAA that our planet had its sixth warmest year on record during 2021. Plenty of articles will be written on that, which I will link to today’s post. Rather, lets focus on all-time record heat stemming from the Southern Hemisphere’s summer from Australia and other areas.
Australia has been no stranger to record heat the past several years. Widespread record heat and drought brought about horrendous, historic bushfires from 2019 into 2020. Thankfully, cooler and wetter conditions prevailed across the island continent in 2021. Now record heat is back in some areas as the climate crisis continues to make its mark on the land down under.
Let’s take a look at the heat dome over Australia when the record heat occurred today:
A 591-decameter ridge was present over western Australia where the record occurred at Onslow. Though high, I’ve seen worse heat domes over the island continent, so there is a lot of potential for more deadly levels of heat in Australia.
Here are details from The Australian:
Top temperature at Onslow Airport WA’s hottest day on record, equal hottest ever in Australia
- By REBECCA LE MAY FINANCE REPORTER @RebLeMay
- NCA NEWSWIRE
- 8:48PM JANUARY 13, 2022
Temperatures at Onslow Airport in Western Australia’s Pilbara region have hit a staggering 50.7C – the state’s hottest day on record and the equal hottest ever in Australia.
That was recorded on January 2, 1960 at Oodnadatta Airport in South Australia.
The coolest Onslow got on Thursday was 30.2C at 6.32am while the sweltering maximum was reached at 2.26pm.
Other epic temperatures recorded in the region were 50.5C at Mardie at 1.58pm, matching its previous record on February 19, 1998, with the same reading at Roebourne Airport at 12.49pm.
WA Premier Mark McGowan was asked about how the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services had long been calling for air conditioning in all cells at Roebourne Prison and whether he believed it needed to be done to protect the human rights of inmates.
It was the number 1 recommendation out of 19 in an OICS report after a 2016 inspection.
“I have been to Roebourne Prison – I was unaware there was no cooling,” the Labor leader told reporters.
“I assume they are trying to put in place measures as we speak to keep the population there as cool as possible.
“That’s pretty obscene temperatures, 50 degrees plus – that’s really harsh.
“I just urge everyone up there to do what they can to keep cool.
“It’s probably pretty rough up there at the moment.”
WA also holds a record for one of the nation’s lowest temperatures, minus 7.2C at Eyre on the southern coast on August 17, 2008.
Australia’s lowest recorded temperature was minus 23C at Charlotte Pass in NSW on June 29, 1994.
Here’s the Bureau of Meteorology’s now outdated list of the nation’s record breaking climate extremes.
It said the Onslow data had to be quality controlled before being declared official.
Rebecca Le May has been a journalist for more than 20 years, including 13 years as a reporter and bureau chief for AAP in Perth. She started out her career as a finance reporter, then moved into general news, c… Read more
Other takes:
Here are some recently reported “ET’s”:
Here is some more climatology from 2021:
Here is 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. 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”