Australia 2013 Heatwave: January Series of High Temps Could Trigger New Record – BOM
With bushfires happening left and right in Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology is now analysing data to support theories that the series of successive high temperatures this January 2013 alone already broke the country's past scorching records.
Although the weather bureau is still analysing Monday's data, Australia in all likelihood could have already beaten its own summer temperature record, according to Karl Braganza, manager of climate monitoring at the BOM.
''It's likely to just beat it,'' Mr Braganza said.
The data for national averages revealed the maximum limits reached were 39.2 on Jan 2, 39.6 on Jan 3, 39.3 on Jan 4, 39.3 on Jan 5 and 39.6 on Jan 6.
Australia's last highest recorded temperature was 40.17 degrees set on Dec 21, 1972.
If Monday indeed topped the 1970s record, it would translate to a six-days-in-a-row hit that the national average breached above 39 degrees. According to the weather bureau, the longest run of 39 degrees or more was recorded in 1973, which stretched for four days.
"This event is ongoing with significant records likely to be set," the bureau statement said. "A particular feature of this heatwave event has been the exceptional spatial extent of high temperatures."
Adding more fuel into the already burgeoning Australian fire is that things are just yet to get hotter for the country and its people.
"We are still fairly early in summer. Australia has been hot for about four-and-a-half months and we are still not in the hottest period of summer," Dr David Jones, a BOM climatologist, told News Ltd.
"We know these heatwaves are increasing, with more hyper days, and one of the features is we are going to get more record high temperature days," he said.