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).😜
Here is a new feature for this blog, which I will add daily. This is the latest inciteful Green News Report from my friends Desi Doyen and Brad Friedman at Progressive Voices. Hit ‘continue reading,’ listen, then hit return to see my daily topics:
Main Topic: Sydney Records Hottest June on Record As expert Warns New High a ‘Signature’ of Global Warming
Dear Diary. We have been concentrating on Northern Hemisphere heatwaves obviously because it is summer here, and they pose dire health problems. In the Southern Hemisphere it is mid-winter, but there are signs of record warmth there, as well. People there may actually welcome it because it is an escape from typical conditions. However, winter warmth has some bad ramifications like causing the beginnings of drought with associated wildfires.
Just like here when we have a mild winter, cold season warmth in the Southern Hemisphere brought about by climate change provides a false sense of security. It has been my experience that warm temperature anomalies don’t favor seasons, so the sane people loving winter warmth will complain about excess torrid heat when summer rolls around.
Here is today’s case in point: Sydney Australia.
Sydney records hottest June since 1859 as expert warns new high a ‘signature’ of global warming
Bureau of Meteorology says city’s mean temperature reached 16.1C, surpassing the previous record of 15.7C set in 1991
A swimmer at Bronte beach last month. Sydney recorded its hottest June since records began in 1859. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Sat 4 Jul 2026
Sydney has officially experienced its hottest June since records began, after a winter month of spring-like warmth.
While early weather data suggested the month was merely among the warmest, the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed on Friday that June 2026 broke the all-time mean temperature record at Observatory Hill, where tracking first began in 1859.
The month was marked by 15 consecutive days with a maximum temperature of at least 20C between 7 and 21 June. This overtook the previous June record of nine consecutive days in 1919.
According to a bureau spokesperson, Sydney’s overall mean temperature – the standard metric for heat records that is the average across each day – in June hit a record-breaking 16.1C, eclipsing the previous 1991 record of 15.7C.
While the average maximum (20C) and minimum (12.2C) both technically ranked as the second-highest on record individually, their sustained, unseasonal consistency was enough to secure June 2026 its place as the warmest overall.
Prof Andy Pitman, a Sydney-based climate scientist, expressed a “complete lack of surprise” at the new record.
“It’s got the signature of global warming all over it,” Pitman said. “With temperature, there’s no wriggle room around it any more … We know that the warming is due to the failure of governments around the world to deeply cut emissions.”
‘Warming hotspot’
Experts said record-breaking ocean temperatures off the NSW coast had kept Sydney warm.
Prof Matthew England said the ocean had become a global “warming hotspot” experiencing rapid temperature increases.
“The basic balance in our climate system is that the oceans absorb a lot of heat during summer and they radiate that heat back into the atmosphere during winter,” the UNSW oceanographer and director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Our Future Oceans said.
“Those very warm oceans off Sydney would be a significant contributor to the record warmth we’ve had this winter.”skip past newsletter promotion
Normally, southerly winds bring cold temperatures to the coast. However, England noted that as this air flow passes over the abnormally warm Tasman Sea, it absorbs the ocean’s surface heat, blunting its chill by the time it reaches Sydney.
‘A false sense of security’
On land, Pitman said vegetation that should be dormant during winter was “happily transpiring”, drawing moisture out of the soil.
“Moving soil moisture out into the atmosphere and drying … amplifies the heating due to CO2 and unless we see decent rain, leading to dry springs and elevated fire risk,” Pitman said.
“The big issue here is not that lots of people in Sydney are enjoying a warm winter. It’s downstream in spring and summer, when everything is drier than it should have been.”
While a milder winter might feel pleasant, England said “the actual cost of high-end events is severe”.
“People can kind of be lulled into a false sense of security.”
Looming heatwaves and bushfire risks will be heavily amplified by El Niño shifting moist air away from eastern Australia.
With a recent NSW Net Zero Commission report highlighting severe gaps in climate adaptation, Pitman urged immediate action.
“The climate science community have been warning about this since at least 1995,” he said. “Serious contingency planning needs to be in place for extreme heat.
“I don’t think Australia is prepared for the kind of heat it’s likely to experience.”
The unseasonal warmth extended across greater Sydney. Of the 16 weather stations with at least two decades of data, every single one recorded either an all-time high average maximum temperature or a 20-year peak.
The heat extended well beyond NSW. According to Weatherzone: “Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra all had one of their top five warmest Junes on record in 2026.”
Here are some “ETs” recorded from around the U.S. the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is More Climate News from Sunday:
(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.)