January 16, 2014

With temperatures hitting 107 °F (41.7 °C) for a third consecutive day in Melbourne, Australian Open tennis officials called off open-air matches. Yesterday, players withdrew from matches after a player and a ball boy collapsed from the heat. Australia’s Climate Council, a nongovernmental group of Australian scientists, reported today that the number of hot days in the country has “more than doubled” in recent years. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently declared that 2013 was Australia’s hottest year on record.

Adelaide, capital of the state of South Australia, today reported a high of 115 °F (46 °C), and fire bans have been called across the state as well as in Victoria state. In Victoria, several small fires in the northern Grampians area have merged into one “out of control” bushfire, and residents are being urged to evacuate.  “A thousand fires have been reported over the past 24 hours and 39 of those are still listed as going,” confirmed Victoria Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley.

Extreme heat has forced Australian Open officials to postpone matches being played on courts without retractable roofs. (© Bob Martin, Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

Demand for electric power is at record levels, causing blackouts in some areas. At least 10,000 households lost electric power in Melbourne yesterday, and Victoria officials warn that 100,000 households may face power cuts through the end of the week.

The authors of the Climate Council report project that the number of heat waves in Australia will “increase significantly,” and they attribute the higher temperatures to global warming, caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. “Both the duration and frequency of heat waves had increased between 1971 and 2008,” note the authors of the report. “As greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, more heat is trapped in the lower atmosphere.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Australia 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Global warming 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• The Great Meltdown (a special report)
• Meltdown: Climate Change in the Arctic (a special report)