Australia records broken in November heatwave
November 24, 2009 – 2:13PM (AAP) – As heatwave conditions hit last week, record temperatures were recorded across much of southeastern Australia, but there was no hotter place than Marree.
The temperature in the small town, at the junction of the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks, on the edge of the desert 685km north of Adelaide, hit 47.4 degrees Celsius last Wednesday, making it the hottest place in Australia that day. It was South Australia’s second highest temperature on record for November, and a few degrees short of the 50.7 degrees recorded in Oodnadatta in January 1960. In a special statement released in the wake of last week’s heatwave, the Bureau of Meteorology said NSW records for November were broken both in terms of maximum and minimum temperatures with Wanaaring, about 180km west of Bourke, recording a high of 46.8 degrees on Friday. Record highs for November were recorded across much of south-eastern Australia during what the bureau described as “an exceptionally prolonged heatwave”. Record heat was felt in 10.2 per cent of Australia, including 41 per cent of NSW and 29 per cent of South Australia, with 68 weather stations recording new highs for November maximum temperatures. “The duration of this event was exceptional, especially in South Australia and parts of western Victoria,” the statement said. …
