Hate The Cold? Go To Australia. But You Won't Like The Heat There

UPDATE FEB 3, 2019

Temperature departure from normal in Celcius
for Australia, Januayr 2019. It was that
nation's hottes month on record, with only
isolated areas reporting cooler than nornal'
conditions Australia is about the size
of the United States Lower 48. 

Australia indeed had its hottest month on record. Making all this worse, it followed the hottest December on record.

Plus, there's no major signs that the heat will break anytime soon.

It is a miserable summer Down Under. ABC News (Australia's ABC, not the U.S.) gives us some hot-to-the-touch statistics:

The mean temperature for the country as a whole exceeded 30 degree Celcius (86 degrees F) for the first time in history.

Australia also had its  hottest overnight "low" temperature, which was 36.6 degrees Celcius, or 98 degrees F.  Several cities had their all-time hottest day on record during January.

The city of Canberra had four consecutive days of temperatures at 40 C  (104 degrees F) or above, the first time in history that's happened.

Even worse, a community called Birdsville in the state of Queensland had ten consecutive days with high temperatures of 45 degrees C (113 degrees F) or more.

I'm sure there's a lot of people in Australia, really, really looking forward to the Southern Hemisphere autumn.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION 1/29/2019

It's been so hot in Adelaide, Australia that this wallaby sought refuge
in the shade at this home. The homeowner came outside every hour
to dump cool water on the wallaby to keep it from overheating.
Photo by Andrew Cornell

While we here in Vermont have spent a lot of time the past couple of months discussing snow and Arctic outbreaks, Down Under in Australia is having what looks like will be the hottest summer on record.

I mentioned Australian heat around New Year's Day, but it has gotten worse since then. Much worse.

Cities across most of Australia have reported record high or near record high temperatures all month. That's especially impressive since Australia is roughly as big as the continental United States.

According to the Category 6 blog, no fewer than 28 places in Australia had all-time record high tempertures last week. For instance, Adelaide hit 116 degrees.

Around Adelaide, many thousands of chickens died in the heat. The torrid weather also made hundreds or even thousands of bats fall dead out of the trees. They also succumbed to the roasting air.

One man said he left meat inside his car as the temperature inside rose to 140 degrees. He said after two hours, the meat was cooked enough to eat. 

There's a weather station on the coast of western Australia that hit 120 degrees last week. The thermometer that measured the temperature is only about 230 feet from the ocean. The high reading is the hottest temperature on record for anywhere in the world that close to an ocean.

The Guardian reports all kinds of records are falling. Ominously, many of these records are for high minimum temperatures. It's more dangerous during heat waves when it doesn't cool off at night.

That was the problem last July, when a record heat wave in Quebec killed dozens of people, in large part because of stifling nights. That same July heat wave killed at least four people in Vermont, where Burlington had its warmest minimum temperature on record  - 80 degrees

In Australia, it's even worse.   One morning earlier this month, the small community of Noona had a low of 96.6 degrees. By noon, it was 113 degrees.

In Melbourne Friday, it was a stifling 86 degrees before dawn, and it was up to 95 degrees by 8 a.m. says The Guardian.

Play had to be suspended at the Australian Open the other day because it was too hot to safely play tennis, officiate it, or even watch it.

Large bushfires have been burning in Tasmania because
of the record heat this summer in Australia

Alice Springs, in northern Australia had at least 14 consecutive days with temperatures of 107 or hotter. Nearby was the scene of one of the saddest consequences of the heat wave and drought.

Feral horses gathered at the Deep Hole reservoir for water, but it was so hot and dry the reservoir dried up, and 90 horses died.

Their bodies were found in a heap within the remaining mud at the bottom of the reservoir. More than 100 other horses are in such bad shape they will probably have to be euthanized.

With heat comes fire, and Australia is especially prone to dangerous wildfires. There's a lot of eucalpytus trees and forests in large parts of the country.  These trees burn explosively in wildfires, so as you can imagine these fires are particularly scary. Especially since many of these wildfire-prone areas are heavily populated.

Bush fires have been burning in Victoria and Tasmania, and some homes have burned.  Tasmania residents were told to be ready to flee, or if able, defend their homes from the flames.

There's no indication that the Australian heat will subside soon.

You wouldn't know it living in the United States, but most of the Earth is continuing to have very high temperatures. The only areas that are colder than normal currently are much of eastern Canada, much of central and eastern United States and parts of Siberia.

It will be interesting to find out how January's worldwide temperature will compare to normal. I bet it will be quite a bit toastier than normal, as has every month this decade. I don't think the deep chill in Minnesota is going to change the results much at all.