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Australia sweats through long, hot winter
Sydney (AFP) Aug 27, 2009 Drought-hit Australia endured an exceptionally hot winter, with abnormal temperatures shattering records that had in some places stood since World War II, official figures show. In a special climate statement released late Wednesday, the weather bureau said maximum temperatures in August were broadly three degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the long-term average. "August 2009 is almost certain to be Australia's warmest August on record," the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said. Taken with above-average temperatures in June and July, the bureau said the exceptional August figures would be "sufficient to lift average winter temperatures to record or near-record levels". The heatwave smashed records across the country, most notably in the subtropical northeast region and drought-struck areas in the country's centre. Some coastal towns recorded their hottest day for 2009 during August, surpassing temperatures reached at the height of Australia's scorching summer months. Records dating back to World War II toppled in the New South Wales Outback towns of Bourke and Walgett, where new August highs of 34.4 degrees Celsius exceeded benchmarks set in 1946, the bureau said. The mercury soared as high as 37 degrees at Boulia, in the Queensland Outback. A record dry spell was also likely to be recorded there, with an average of just 1.65 millimetres (0.07 inches) of rain between July and August, the bureau warned. According to government analysis Australia faces its driest, hottest summer in a decade this year, with an El Nino weather pattern expected to bring less rain and higher temperatures. El Nino, which is caused by warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean, results in extensive drought in the west Pacific and has been associated with a spike in wildfire activity. Entire towns and more than 2,000 homes were razed during a firestorm on February 7 in Victoria state, killing 173 people in Australia's worst natural disaster of modern times. Victoria and its neighbouring states are in the grip of a decade-long drought, and experienced a run of record-breaking temperatures in the weeks before the fires, leaving uncleared bushland tinder-dry. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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More than 100 reported dead in Indian heatwaveBhubaneswar, India (AFP) June 25, 2009 An acute heatwave roasting much of India has claimed at least 100 lives, with more deaths feared because the annual monsoon rains have yet to come, officials said Thursday. In the eastern state of Orissa, at least 58 people have died due to sunstroke since April, disaster management official Durgesh Nandini Sahoo told AFP in the state capital Bhubaneswar. Local newspapers have reported ... read more |
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