Australia's nightmare start to the summer is about to get worse, after the country's worst November in living memory suffering record-breaking wildfires, a crippling drought, toxic-smog and a long heatwave with temperatures above 40 deg C, (104 deg F) in many parts, (Australia was listed as the hottest place in the world on Thursday), another record is about to be broken. The Aussies are bracing themselves from a hot air mass which will fuel another devasting heatwave and it is expected to top Australia's current record high temperature of 50.7C, (123 deg F) at Oodnadatta in SA, that record was set on January 2, 1960.
According to ABC, Perth is enduring an unprecedented heatwave for December, with the city expected to hover close to 40 degrees Celsius for four consecutive days until Sunday. But the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has warned that as a cool change sweeps in on Monday, the blistering heat will travel interstate. "We're expecting some incredibly warm conditions as we head into next week, potentially record-breaking for a number of areas across southern Australia over the next seven days or so," BOM meteorologist Diana Eadie said. Ms Eadie said there was also a chance Australia could record its hottest day as a whole towards the end of the week. Be prepared for the heat Be prepared for the heat Heatwaves kill far more people than other natural disasters. ABC Emergency has a checklist of things you can do to be ready. "So when you combine all of the maximum temperatures recorded on any given day, the hottest on record was on the January 7 back in 2013, when we saw an average maximum of 40.3C," she said. "At this stage with these sorts of temperatures that we're forecasting it looks like we could break that record over a number of consecutive days towards the end of next week. "We will potentially see the hottest day on record across all of Australia."
Brisbane has recorded its highest 24-hour December rainfall total for 20 years after an overnight downpour of more than 100 millimetres, which mostly fell within a two-hour downpour period. Weatherzone meteorologist Kim Westcott said there were an estimated 3000 lightning strikes in the south-east Queensland overnight and she described the storms as "incredible". "A low-pressure trough triggered thunderstorms and some were severe, actually that is a bit of an understatement," Ms Westcott said. "Brisbane had more than 130 millimetres in under two hours. This is incredible, it's pretty unusual, I'm struggling to think when last time was that I saw this." Ms Westcott said the current Brisbane rain gauge records stretched back to 1999 and prior to Wednesday night, the highest 24-hour rainfall total for December was 84 millimetres in 2004. With more than 130 millimetres falling overnight, the 20-year record was smashed, reports the Brisbane Times
Massive wildfires are burning out of control on both East and Western Coasts.
Climate Change
Front Page