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 record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).
Main Topic: A Deadly Hot Summer Has Arrived in Australia…And Spring Has Just Started
Dear Diary. Over the Southern Hemisphere winter, it seemed like traditional cold weather never arrived as show on this blog. We saw winter heat waves across Argentina and the rest of southern South America, South Africa, and in Australia. Now the other shoe is dropping in Australia. Summer temperatures are arriving during their spring.
September is equivalent to April in the Northern Hemisphere, but already we see a heat dome developing across the island continent, which will continue for much of this week:
Today I’ve noticed a stark hot area across southeastern Australia looking at Climate Reanalyzer data:
Here are some examples of records reported by Maximilliano Herrera coming from Australia recently:
Australia is living some extraordinary and unprecedented days with between 30C and 40C in the South in early spring. 34.6C Sydney Observatory tied Sept record 35.9C the Airport beat the record Dozens of records smashed (see list below) 34.6 Gabo Island record beaten.
Historic heat in Australia
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 18, 2023
Stunning 38.4C at Port Augusta in South Australia,new monthly record
And New South Wales with nearly 37C
RECORDS
36.6 Moruya
35.9 Bega
35.4 Ulladulla
34.8 Forbes
34.7 Albion Park
34.6 Wyalong
34.5 Narooma
33.4 Mangrove
33.4 Montague Isl.
28.8 Braidwood https://t.co/FwvXn8ckzy
Sidney Airport just had its hottest September day on record. As of 2pm, the airport had reached 35.9ºC, beating its previous record of 35.6ºC from 2000. Data for this site dates back to 1939.
Also according to Max: South America, Australia, Southern Africa: Southern Hemisphere is boiling with never record heat. Today 39.8C at Mababe in Botswana at 1000m asl, and 39.5C at Mfuwe in Zambia. The heat will just get worse and we should expect records falling like dominoes in Botswana and Zambia.
It will be interesting to see if Australia stops its coal mining ways since this summer may be its hottest summer get due to a combination of climate change and a strong El Niño cycle.
Here is more from Reuters:
Australia swelters in spring heat wave, temperatures set to break records | Reuters
Australia swelters in spring heat wave, temperatures set to break records
By Renju Jose
September 17, 2023
Crowds of people enjoy the beach as parts of Australia’s east reached their hottest day in more than two years amid temperatures which rose to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), in Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
SYDNEY, Sept 18 (Reuters) – A spring heat wave across large parts of Australia’s southeast, including Sydney, will intensify on Monday, the weather bureau said, with temperatures expected to peak up to 16 degrees Celsius (60 Fahrenheit) above the September average.
Australia is baking through a rising heat wave which has been building in the country’s outback interior over the weekend and is likely last until Wednesday across the states of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
The Bureau of Meteorology said it expected several early spring records were likely to be broken over the next few days, calling the heat “very uncommon for September”.
“A reprieve from the heat is not expected until Wednesday onwards, as a stronger cold front crosses the southeastern states,” the weather bureau said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
The heat took its toll on runners in the Sydney marathon on Sunday with 26 people taken to the hospital and about 40 treated for heat exhaustion by emergency services.
Temperatures in Sydney’s west are expected to hit 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 F) on Monday before dropping to about 22 degrees Celsius (71 F) on Thursday, the weather bureau forecasts showed.
The heat wave has also elevated the risks of fires with several regions given ‘high’ fire danger ratings, and authorities urging residents to prepare for bushfires. About 50 grass or bushfires are burning across New South Wales but all have been brought under control.
Australia is bracing for a hotter southern hemisphere spring and summer this year after the possibility of an El Nino strengthened and the weather forecaster said the weather event could likely develop between September and November.
El Nino can prompt extreme weather events from wildfires to cyclones and droughts in Australia, with authorities already warning of heightened bushfire risks this summer.
A thick smoke haze shrouded Sydney for several days last week as firefighters carried out hazard reduction burns to prepare for the looming bushfire season.
Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry
And more from the New York Times:
Australia Officially Declares Arrival of El Niño – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
As El Niño Arrives, Australian Region Sees ‘Catastrophic’ Fire Conditions
The authorities ordered school closures on the south coast of New South Wales, where springtime temperatures were expected to near 100 degrees.
A controlled burn in Sydney, Australia, this month. The area is experiencing temperatures far above normal. Credit…Cordelia Hsu/Reuters
By Yan Zhuang
Reporting from Sydney, Australia
Sept. 19, 2023, 4:54 a.m. ET
Less than three weeks after the official start of spring in Australia, temperatures in many towns have set records, some as high as 60 degrees above normal. Ski resorts have closed weeks ahead of schedule. At the Sydney Marathon over the weekend, dozens of people were hospitalized after running in a heat wave.
On Tuesday, the authorities said the state of New South Wales was experiencing “catastrophic” fire conditions on its southern coast, with high winds and temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. They ordered 20 schools to close and residents in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, not to light fires outdoors. Firefighters were already battling dozens of blazes across the country.
And in a possible omen for the months ahead, they also officially declared the arrival of the El Niño weather pattern, heralding the first hot and dry summer in the continent in three years.
Australia is bracing for a particularly dangerous fire season four years after the deadly Black Summer, when wildfires killed or were blamed for the deaths of nearly 500 people and scorched more than 60 million acres. The previous few seasons have had cooler and wetter La Niña conditions.
“We are already seeing extreme conditions in some parts of the continent, particularly in the duration of heat,” said Karl Braganza, a spokesman for the national Bureau of Meteorology. “We’ve had an extended period of warm and dry weather to start spring.”
Conditions have not been deemed as high-risk yet as those that led to the Black Summer, which had been preceded by several years of drought, Mr. Braganza said. Still, he said, parts of New South Wales where vegetation had dried out faced elevated risk.
A blanket of smoke hanging over Sydney last week, when the Australian city experienced some of the worst air quality in the world. Credit…Mark Baker/Associated Press
The area most at risk currently is the far south coast — an area which burned during the Black Summer fires — where 20 schools were closed on Tuesday. A “catastrophic” fire danger rating was announced for the region because of the combination of the high temperatures, abundance of dry vegetation and strong winds.
“For your survival, avoid being in bush and grass fire risk areas today,” the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said on Facebook on Tuesday. “These are the most dangerous conditions for a fire.”
Last week, Sydney experienced some of the worst air quality in the world as firefighters raced to conduct controlled burns across swathes of New South Wales before conditions became too hot.
Experts say that the vegetation that grew and flourished during three years of wet and cool La Niña conditions is now drying out as Australia experiences El Niño conditions, creating potential fuel for the fires. At the same time, a warming planet means that firefighters have an ever-narrower window to do controlled burns.
The authorities are struggling to adjust to these conditions, said David Bowman, a University of Tasmania professor and one of Australia’s leading fire management experts.
“We’re absolutely not prepared,” for the fire season ahead, he said. “We’re not doing the necessary work at the speed we need to do the work, relative to the rate of climate change.”
He added that outside his window, in the distance, “I’m watching a fire developing as we speak, and it’s quite interesting.”
Several other wildfires were also burning in Tasmania on Tuesday, including an uncontrolled blaze on the east side of the island state, near the popular tourist area of Coles Bay, where authorities had asked residents to evacuate.
In the state of Queensland, emergency evacuation warnings were issued for the towns of Emerald and Beerwah on Sunday as large fires raged. Both blazes were under control by Monday, and no property damage was reported. But authorities warn that the fire risk will increase on Thursday and Friday, with temperatures in some parts of the state expected to reach 97 degrees.
The death toll from the Black Summer wildfires included 33 direct deaths and almost 450 more through smoke inhalation.
Yan Zhuang is a reporter in The New York Times’s Australia bureau, based in Melbourne. More about Yan Zhuang
Here are some other “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
13.5M views. Why? It's winter in the SH. 2 days ago: "Brazil… exceptional heat wave with max temps of between 40°C and 45°C. All regions of the country will be affected and with historic marks. Heat will be so extreme that it will be dangerous and pose a risk to health & life." https://t.co/xZe8mGqPf2
— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) September 20, 2023
South America Heat wave update:
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 18, 2023
Scorching heat with 44.5C yesterday at Villamontes,Bolivia,followed by a very hot night in the Paraguayan Chaco.
The Min. temp. only dropped to 29.3C at Nueve Lunas.
After a couple of days break,the heat will return fiercer than ever: 45C is coming https://t.co/raeY4tjWzb
More records from the Caribbeans:
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 18, 2023
The Dutch Caribbean territory of Sint Marteen (same island shared with French territory of St Martin) after recording its highest Tmin on records on 15 August with 29.3C,on 12 September recorded its highest Tmin in September with 29.1C.
Hot 24/7 pic.twitter.com/Ftu4codmEO
1-15 September Global temperatures checkpoint by JRA-55 renalysis (Japanese Meteorological Agency):
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 18, 2023
It's getting worse….and by much
+0.80C above the 1991-2020 baseline.
Currently the country with the highest temperature anomaly nationwide is Switzerland:
+5C vs 1991-2020 pic.twitter.com/aAb6r5tHX8
Endless scorcher in #Japan.
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 19, 2023
Today Kiryu reached 35C for the 46th time this 2023.
This is the first time in Japanese history any station had more than 45 days >35C.
Yesterday tied hottest September night on records at Hihonmatsu with a Tmin of 24.8C. https://t.co/dLRkL8DNMS
A large-scale heat wave occurred in southern China today, with temperatures reaching 39.3C in Gulin, Sichuan and 38C in Qiaojia, Yunnan. In addition, central China suffered heavy rains, and two EF2 tornadoes occurred in Suqian, Jiangsu. @extremetemps pic.twitter.com/StxC0XtUdR
— Jim yang (@yangyubin1998) September 19, 2023
Yesterday there were again exceptionally warm nights in Europe:
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 19, 2023
In Denmark Minimum temperatures in the country were between 15.1C and 18.4C, never in September had been average so high.
In Northern Germany Tmin 17.1C at Barth which is a record highest for September. https://t.co/18ME10Bmtk
Another abnormally warm night in Europe with local Tmins 22C/24C in Slovenia,Croatia and Bosnia.
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 19, 2023
In Hungary some stations remained above 23C for the whole night before dropping just before 7am.
Exceptional for a 19 September. https://t.co/UGBP6JY6Rk
More Records ,this time in Central Africa.
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 19, 2023
On 14 September the Gabonese town of Franceville rose to 34.4C tying its monthly record of highest temperature.
Over 100 countries this month has broken monthly records of highest temperature.
That had happened only 1 time:last month. pic.twitter.com/GQ927G6m3K
Here is some more brand-new August and Summer 2023 climatology:
August 2023 in #Ecuador, under the influence of the coastal Niño,was abnormally hot:
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) September 19, 2023
Temperature anomaly was close to +3C vs 1991-2020 and a whopping 1.4C hotter than the previous hottest August. https://t.co/6DmZvd2IOn
Here is more climate and weather news from Tuesday:
(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.)
This year has been historically hot, polluted and deadly. Yet global mobilisation can remind us of #climate hope. The climate movement took to the streets and won’t budge until we end fossil fuels for good.
— Greenpeace International (@Greenpeace) September 19, 2023
https://t.co/mMlxkeIRf4
Today’s News on Sustainable and Traditional Polluting Energy from Fossil Fuel:
‘Tripling renewables without also halting the building of new, dirty coal plants would be like training for a marathon while smoking five packs of cigarettes a day’ https://t.co/zHUiqmTQWy
— Justin Guay (@Guay_JG) September 19, 2023
Yes. Every serious analysis agrees: Electric cars are already *far* better for the environment. (And they’re getting better all the time.)https://t.co/ZN0gXoyKgp
— Dr. Jonathan Foley (@GlobalEcoGuy) September 19, 2023
More on the Environment:
From our archives: More and more countries are building roads from plastic waste.
— Yale Environment 360 (@YaleE360) September 20, 2023
India has installed more than 60,000 miles of these roads.https://t.co/XZ9R4maid8
More from the Weather Department:
This morning, @NOAA's #GOESEast is continuing to monitor #HurricaneNigel over the central Atlantic, currently a Category 1 storm. #Nigel's outer bands stretch far to the north and south, while its large eye can be clearly seen on satellite. The storm is expected to intensify… pic.twitter.com/aGsyrICArD
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) September 19, 2023
Brittany Oborny near Nekoma (west of Rush Center) and many throughout Rush County have reported seeing this landspout this evening just before 6 PM. @KSNNews @KSNStormTrack3 #kswx pic.twitter.com/mF0eMDVyUp
— Chief Meteorologist Lisa Teachman (@LisaTeachman) September 19, 2023
More on other science and the beauty of Earth and this universe:
Sick!!! https://t.co/0pMvfFFolA
— Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) September 19, 2023
Our planet today. Note the terminator (the line that separates day and night) is almost parallel to the axis of the Earth and to lines of longitude. This means fall is almost here; the equinox is Saturday at 1:50a CT. pic.twitter.com/2pDjw6F7w0
— James Spann (@spann) September 19, 2023