Sydney, Australia, Bakes in Record Heat Wave
January 18, 2013
Sydney, Australia, is experiencing its hottest day on record, with temperatures reaching 114.4 °F (45.8 °C). The previous recorded high in Sydney–113.5 °F (45.3 °C)–was in January 1939. The heat has caused extensive damage to Sydney’s urban railway lines, causing delays to much of the network. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has advised Australians to “take the appropriate precautions to stay safe and monitor information from local emergency services as they work to protect lives and property.”
A record high of 104 °F (40 °C) set on January 8 prompted the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to add two new colors to its temperature charts to extend their range to 129 °F (54 °C) from the previous cap of 122 °F (50 °C). David Jones, manager of climate monitoring prediction at the Bureau of Meteorology, declared last week that Australia was undergoing the “largest heat event in the country’s recorded history.”
According to public safety officials, four months of record-breaking temperatures combined with widespread drought conditions and high winds have created “catastrophic” fire conditions along the heavily populated eastern and southeastern coasts of the country. These areas include Australia’s three largest cities, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, as well as the capital, Canberra. A bushfire in Victoria state has left one man dead. He was found in his burnt-out vehicle outside the town of Seaton, which is 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Melbourne. Firefighters continue to battle dozens of wildfires sparked by the intense heat in Victoria and New South Wales, and whole towns and sheep ranches are reportedly cut off by fires and endangered. (A bushfire is an uncontrolled fire in bush areas, especially the Australian bush.) Very similar conditions on Feb. 7, 2009, came to be known as Black Saturday, during which wildfires in Victoria state left 173 people dead and caused $4.4 billion in damage.
- Australia’s current bushfires are being made worse by unusually hot temperatures, e.g., 114.4 °F (45.8 °C) in Sydney. The average January temperature in Sydney is 65 to 75 °F (18 to 24 °C). (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)
Additional World Book articles:
- Celsius scale
- Fahrenheit scale
- Why Fires Need to Burn (a special report)
- Australia 2009 (a Back in Time article)