Temperatures off the charts as Australia turns deep purple

[Sora96 17,256]

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Australia's "dome of heat" has become so intense that the temperatures are rising off the charts – literally.

 

"The air mass over the inland is still heating up - it hasn't peaked"

 

The Bureau of Meteorology's interactive weather forecasting chart has added new colours – deep purple and pink – to extend its previous temperature range that had been capped at 50 degrees.

 

 

Deep purple ... the Bureau of Meteorology's interactive weather forecasting chart has added new colours. Photo: Bureau of Meteorology

 

The range now extends to 54 degrees – well above the all-time record temperature of 50.7 degrees reached on January 2, 1960 at Oodnadatta Airport in South Australia – and, perhaps worryingly, the forecast outlook is starting to deploy the new colours.

 

 

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"The scale has just been increased today and I would anticipate it is because the forecast coming from the bureau's model is showing temperatures in excess of 50 degrees," David Jones, head of the bureau's climate monitoring and prediction unit, said.

While recent days have seen Australian temperature maps displaying maximums ranging from 40 degrees to 48 degrees - depicted in the colour scheme as burnt orange to black – both Sunday and Monday are now showing regions likely to hit 50 degrees or more, coloured purple.

Clicking on the prediction for 5pm AEDT next Monday, a Tasmania-sized deep purple opens up over South Australia – implying 50 degrees or above.

Aaron Coutts-Smith, the bureau's NSW head of climate monitoring, though, cautioned that the 50-degree reading is the result of just one of the bureau's models. "The indications are, from the South Australian office, that we are not looking at getting any where near that (50 degree level)."

Still, large parts of central Australia have limited monitoring, so the 50.7 degree record may be broken.

"The air mass over the inland is still heating up - it hasn't peaked," Dr Jones said.

Australia's first six days of 2013 were all among the hottest 20 days on record in terms of average maximums, with January 7 and today likely to add to the list of peaks.

 

National record smashed

And the country has set a new national average maximum of 40.33 degrees on Monday, beating the previous record - set on December 21, 1972 - by a "sizeable margin" of 0.16 degrees, Dr Jones said, adding that the figures are preliminary.

"Today is actually shaping up to be hotter - and it could be a record by a similar margin," he said.

The scorching temperatures could last into the weekend, Dr Jones said, potentially breaking the country's all-time high of 50.7 degrees.

"The heat over central Australia is not going to go anywhere," he said, noting that the northern monsoon and southern cold fronts have all been weak recently.

"We know the air mass is hot enough to challenge the Oodnadatta record."

While the national data goes all the way back to 1910, the bureau views the figures are most reliable from about 1950.

Prior to today, six of the 20 hottest days in Australian records have been in 2013 - with that tally likely to rise to seven out of 20 by the day's end. Here are the rankings:

 

Hottest national averages on record (prior to today).

 

1 January 7 2013 40.33 degrees

2 December 21, 1972 40.17

3 December 20, 1972 40.01

4 December 22, 1972 39.82

5 January 1, 1973 39.79

6 January 6, 2013 39.71

7 December 17, 2002 39.7

8 January 2, 1973 39.65

9 January 3, 2013 39.55

10 December 16, 2002 39.54

11 December 30, 1972 39.48

12 December 31, 1972 39.43

13 January 27, 1936 39.4

14 January 1, 1990 39.39

15 January 4, 2013 39.32

16 January 5, 2013 39.26

17 January 2, 1990 39.22

18 January 2, 2013 39.21

19 December 18, 2002 39.2

20 January 13, 1985 38.98

 

Source: Bureau of Meteorology

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/temperatures-off-the-charts-as-australia-turns-deep-purple-20130108-2ce33.html#ixzz2HMnI82F4

[Ultima Spark 753]

The range now extends to 54 degrees

 

Good lord. What was the highest natural temp. recorded on Earth, 57C? It's still ~40C here near Ropes Crossing, assuming you go outside (even normally heat-tolerant me gave up and shuffled off to the air-con'd lounge room). High humidity sucks ass.

[hatok 6,413]

So basically

Australian is going to melt?

[Ultima Spark 753]

You get used to it after a while. Not that it makes it any more pleasant.

 

Apparently there's going to be a cool front coming in around midnight, please tell me that's going to last for longer than a day...

 

Some dumbshits lit a fire in Shalvey a few hours ago, but they were caught quickly, thankfully. Assholes, that's near where I live!

 

Anyone in Sydney, keep checking this link for updates.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Ultima Spark

[Sora96 17,256]

  On 1/8/2013 at 7:41 AM, hatok said:

So basically

Australian is going to melt?

 

Deep Fry more likely.

[SinHeartlessAngel 555]

Save the Kangaroo's and Koala's

[Rob 5,571]

We must save DC and Aaron before it is too late.

[Hei 3,233]

If it's in the deep purple, is it hot enough for there to be smoke on the water?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbXlFjTTqtk

[Sora96 17,256]

  On 1/8/2013 at 10:09 AM, Hei said:

If it's in the deep purple, is it hot enough for there to be smoke on the water?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbXlFjTTqtk

 

I think so.

[Geralt 4,874]

I wanna live there Dx as long as theres no power outages and air conditioning is always working owo

[Shera Wizard 2,736]

Holy shit, that seems awful D: I just read this in a newspaper, heard there's been wildfires in Australia. Hope everything calms down soon

[Weiss 8,279]

HOLY CRAP

That's like...130 F O.O

Crazy heat. Hope Australia doesn't melt. 

[Amon 4,279]

This only confirms the existence of a radiation belt either striking the continent from space or cooking it from underneath. It's the only logical explanation to the existence of the diverse wildlife there. How could a Duck and a Beaver be crossed without radiation? 

[Ultima Spark 753]

Yes, you're so original, we've never heard that joke before...

[Roy 137]

Man This sucks...Can't people see that poluttion is destroying the atmosphere.... in other words Stupidity and greed and lazyiness is gonna kill us....wee need to be more green and think of using trash for energy and released to help restore the atmoshere defence.

[Think Pink 1,967]

That sounds awful good luck Aussies

[Wisdomform 221]

I hope the temperature drops down for you guys...the heat sucks, it's a killer.

[MythrilMagician 6,963]

i live in Australia. and Queensland has been flooding (again) in the summer. and its worse than 2011. (Thank God i live in Sydney). the rain in australia has been pouring on some days. if it gets worse we will need help. 

[Sora96 17,256]

  On 2/1/2013 at 1:29 AM, Two Become One said:

i live in Australia. and Queensland has been flooding (again) in the summer. and its worse than 2011. (Thank God i live in Sydney). the rain in australia has been pouring on some days. if it gets worse we will need help. 

 

It's actually only worse in some areas.

[Henne 150]

Yeah, that's quite hot. I already hate it if it hits 38° over here - I should feel bad, right? :ph34r:

 

As I see: It's been nearly a month: Is it still too hot?

[MythrilMagician 6,963]

oh its been the worst summer here. doesn't even feel like summer. its cloudy some days and sunny on other.

[OthersiderME 614]

Never before have I been so glad to have muggy, gray weather,

[Daniel Black 1,981]

what the!? I´m complaining with 35°C ... but 54!!!? 

[Sora'sMum 352]

This just in…Melbourne's weather is still, well, Melbourne weather.

It's like 40 degrees right now. Oh wait, here comes a hail storm.