Australia could see hottest day on record as Perth heatwave conditions travel east – “We’re expecting some incredibly warm conditions as we head into next week”

By Irena Ceranic
12 December 2019

(ABC News) – Australia could experience its hottest day on record next week as a hot air mass building in Western Australia makes its way east.

Perth is enduring an unprecedented heatwave for December, with the city expected to hover close to 40 degrees Celsius for four consecutive days until Sunday.

But the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has warned that as a cool change sweeps in on Monday, the blistering heat will travel interstate.

“We’re expecting some incredibly warm conditions as we head into next week, potentially record-breaking for a number of areas across southern Australia over the next seven days or so,” BOM meteorologist Diana Eadie said.

That record was set on 2 January 1960.

Ms Eadie said there was also a chance Australia could record its hottest day as a whole towards the end of the week.

“So when you combine all of the maximum temperatures recorded on any given day, the hottest on record was on the January 7 back in 2013, when we saw an average maximum of 40.3C,” she said.

“At this stage with these sorts of temperatures that we’re forecasting … it looks like we could break that record over a number of consecutive days towards the end of next week.

“We will potentially see the hottest day on record across all of Australia.” […]

Perth recorded its earliest December day above 40C on 3 December 2019, peaking at 41.6C in what was its hottest first week of summer on record.

The city has never recorded more than two 40C days in December, but that record will be challenged this week.

Currently the city is tracking about 6C above its mean December maximum of 29.1C. [more]

Australia could see hottest day on record next week as Perth heatwave conditions travel east