- Australia’s vast continent is sizzling through extreme heatwave conditions this week, with temperatures reaching record highs and emergency services on high alert for bushfires.
- The mercury is up to 16 degree Celsius (29 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than usual for this time of the year for southern Australia, with numerous towns setting new December records.
- “Heatwave conditions are being experienced across large parts of the country,”
- Tiny Marble Bar in Western Australia state, which bills itself as the nation’s hottest town, recorded a peak of 49.3 degree Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday,
- Major cities across the country are also affected, with the thermometer pushing towards 40 degree Celsius and the heat set to linger into the new year.
- Major cities across the country are also affected, with the thermometer pushing towards 40 degree Celsius and the heat set to linger into the new year.
- In Sydney, thousands of people flocked to beaches to cool down, while the state’s health service issued a warning for poor quality air as ozone levels rise with the hot weather.
- A southerly wind change will start to bring cooler wind conditions in southern Australia that gradually extend inland into South Australia and Victoria state before weakening.
- High temperatures are not unusual in Australia during its arid southern hemisphere summer, with bushfires a common occurrence.
- But climate change has pushed up land and sea temperatures and led to more extremely hot days and severe fire seasons
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