By DEBORAH SMITH SCIENCE EDITOR
November 20, 2009 FIVE major fires are burning in NSW as the state swelters in a heatwave that has seen decades-old records fall. The state has experienced both its hottest November day and hottest November night since observations began. The mercury soared to 46.4 degrees at Tibooburra in the north-west of the state on Wednesday, breaking the previous November maximum of 46.1 degrees, set in Coonamble in 1944. The Bureau of Meteorology’s Julie Evans said the state’s hottest overnight minimum record was also broken at White Cliffs on Wednesday night. The 33.3 degree temperature was more than a degree above the previous record of 31.7 degrees in Cobar, also set in 1944. Broken Hill, which is in one of the five state regions issued with a catastrophic fire danger rating, has had 11 consecutive days exceeding 35 degrees, whereas previously its longest run was only days. The heatwave will continue today as a high pressure system in the Tasman Seas continues to bring hot north to north-westerly winds from the centre of the continent into the state. …
Feel the heat: temperature records fall and fires burn
