Record maximum temperature (Oz)

[OzMike]

My station, Learmonth, had a maximum of 48.9C today, a record for any month, beating previous record of 48.2C set in January 2003. Along with Emu Creek also on 49C, it was the hottest temp in WA (and probably the whole country).Strangely enough, it felt worse yesterday with a max of 45C, as it was more humid. I would usually be out of town, as I travel east on annual leave, but as I've been posted (to western NSW) I've had to hang on for the removal. My wife and I went for a drive to Shothole Canyon, a local scenic attraction and while the car gauge said 45C as we left home, it was 36C at the turnoff to the canyon (about 15km from town) and 47C in the canyon itself. We then drove another 15km south to the Krait memorial (where the Z-Force commando raid on Singapore departed) which is closer to Learmonth itself (we actually live in the town of Exmouth, 37.5km from Learmonth) and it was 47C again! As we drove back past the canyon turnoff, it was still 36C. Very weird.

The somewhat strange thing about high temps here is that we get them with southerly winds! The forecast for tomorrow is a "mere" 41C with NE'lies, which come off the water (both Learmonth and Exmouth are on the east coast of a long peninsula). The 49C today was not that unique in state terms as three stations to our north recorded the same temp yesterday. What a New Year's present!

There's a map of the area here: http://www.pleasetakemeto.com/australia ... nformation

[Nev]

Thanks Mike. You sure get some pretty hot temps up there in the Pilbara, but that's still pretty extreme! I see Onslow Aero also recorded 48.8C on New Years Day - just 0.1C short of its 2008 record. Emu Creek's all-time record is 49.8C set in Feb, 1998. So not getting too far off WA's hottest ever recorded temp of 50.5C at Mardie (also in the Pilbara), set in Feb, 1998 (national record is 50.7C at Oodnadatta, SA in Jan, 1960).

[OzMike]

Mardie was one of the places which had 49C on New Year's Day, along with Onslow and Onslow Airport. Blair Trewin, a meteorologist/climatologist with Bureau of Meteorology, has stated that he thinks Australia's record max temp might be broken by a coastal station, as while it's often hotter inland, temperature is mitigated by altitude. Learmonth is only 8m above sea level, and Oodnadatta 117m. Mardie (and not Learmonth) would be a candidate to break the record (not far off as it is). Learmonth is only a few hundred metres from Exmouth Gulf but about 35km from the Indian Ocean.

Being on a peninsula has some strange effects on wind (and temp). I've seen the wind go completely through 360 degrees in the same day, starting as a SSW'ly. going SE then E/NE as a weak seabreeze, through north (which heats up again) then NW and finally W/SW sea breeze (which often picks up heat from the land and raises temp by 2-4 degrees). It is often 10-15 degrees cooler on W coast. People often ask why Exmouth was put on the E coast when it's so much nicer on the west, the answer is that it was started as a US Navy base (to Exmouth started from scratch in 60s to house US sailors) and they built it (the base) right where NIngaloo Reef finishes in Exmouth Gulf (the reef wraps around the tip of the peninsula) as they have a large wharf there for visiting naval ships.

Thanks to the moderator for adding the "Oz" to my thread heading. A Kiwi would have a heart attack thinking somewhere in NZ had had 49 degrees, although it's of course an overseas weather section.

[Nev]

Interesting Mike. I also see that on the 1st, Onslow town equalled their all-time record of 49.2C (set in Jan, 1998) and, although not all-time records, both Mardie and Emu Creek broke their Jan records by 0.1C (49.0C at Mardie on the 1st and 49.1C at Emu Creek on the 2nd). Seems to have ended up a little cooler than expected up there yesterday though.

Yes, I'm familiar with some of Blair Trewin's work (likes to hang out in NZ occasionally ). I think he's just completed a study of Australian records that have fallen over the last 10 years (not sure if it's been reviewed/published yet), which suggests that new T-max records have outnumbered new T-min records by about 2-3:1 (similar to a recent US study showing a 2:1 ratio).

[OzMike]

Learmonth has had several min records in the 27 months I've been here, including equalling a min winter just gone. We also had a record low mean max, November '08, where we had two early cyclones and lots of cloud (and record Nov rainfall). This November was entirely different, with a mean around the 37C mark. We haven't had much over a couple of mm of rain since June, in fact nothing at all since August. It get boring after a while, to tell the truth, wife & I went to Tassie in September and it rained 7 days out of 11, it was wonderful:)!

[Nev]

I see a few all-time records fell in S'ern coastal areas of WA on the 6th, with Hopetoun North recording 48.0C, Munglinup 47.6C and Esperance town 46.9C.

Now the heatwave that began in WA is scorching through SA and VIC. Adelaide hit 41.0C on Fri, 41.3C yesterday and is forecast to reach 43C both today and tomorrow (normal Jan T-max is 32.3). Nearby Port Augusta was also around 44C yesterday with the same expected today. While over in Vic, Melbourne rocketed from 30C at 9am yesterday to over 38C just after midday, before a S'erly sent temps plummeting back down to a near normal 28C - forecast today is for 33C, then back up to 41C tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Alice Springs managed to pick up 63 mm on Thu and Fri, nearly as much as the 77mm that fell there for all of 2009 - its driest year on record. While over in Qld, which has been battered with widespread rain and showers recently, Cloncurry, E of Mt Isa, picked up 164mm on Fri, their highest 24h rainfall for any month in 14 years.

[jamie]

not a record max but a record min for Melbourne with an over night low a ridiculous 32.3C

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/ar ... d=10619651 full story here.

[vinny]

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/hottest ... 5821283028

and

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/perth-s ... 5820854332

Remember , this is a dry heat with humidity as low as 12 percent. We close our doors and windows when the temp heads over 35 deg. States with "dry heat" usually use evaporative airconditioning which is cheap to run and better for the environment.

Perth is running a temperature this month. The average temp should be 31 deg... we are waaaaay above it.

Last night was 27 deg as a min temperature. As I type this its 11.32pm and it is still 26 deg

43 deg is not too bad. You can go outside and stand in it on the grass and you don't burn ... the air is very dry and you lose a lot of water though. Geraldton got to 46 deg and there are places in WA (way up north) that have recently had 47-48 deg.

The thing about the heat in Perth is we get the Fremantle Doctor that cools it down in the afternoon.

[jamie]

i remember being in Geraldton in december 1999 and it got over 40 a few times. i dont know if its my bad memory but that never felt as hot as the 40+ days in syndey last year.

I am actually going back to Geraldton on the 2nd of April for a week to visit family. So hopefully its still nice and hot then.