I t is hard to believe the heat we enduring at the moment. 45 Deg C (and even higher) have been experienced over the last fornight in many parts of Australia.Sweltering is to put it mildly!
It is reported that the heat was even warping railway lines in some areas.
The following photos show just how the heat is effecting even the wildlife.

#THESE ARE NOT MY PHOTOS!. I TAKE NO CREDIT FOR THEM!

This Koala is a juvenile koala who turned up on a verandah in Victoria, totally from the wild. When the home owner put out a bowl of water this is the result.
#Koalas normally dont drink water, but get all their liquid sustenance from Eucalypt leaves.

[Bramela]

Roentarre: Thanks ofr the compliment but : (As Kirk said)
Please note : not my shots mate. I just posted them as I thought they would be very amusing to our international friends.

[RichardS]

Isn't it unusual for Adelaide to reach 45C+ (113F+). Normally, if it's a heatwave it's Perth, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, perhaps Brisbane.

Dan
(we've been 32C max. up here in Brissie recently while you guys suffered down south)

It's not unusual for Adelaide and Melbourne to be over 40. Brisbane and Cairns, for example, have higher mean maximum temperatures for the summer months, but Adelaide and Melbourne have higher absolute maximums. In Melbourne we have days where the max is in the high teens and low to mid 20s. Then it will get hot for a few days followed by a cool change. A typical progression of max temps would be something like 22, 25, 30, 35, 38, 20. Sometimes the 30, 35, 38 is followed by a couple more hotter days before the cool change comes through. Current forecast is 32 today, then 43, 23, 22, 20. The Bureau says that 43 may well be conservative and we could get 45 or higher. It depends on the timing of the cool change and how strong the northerly is.

Looks like it's going to be a day for indoor photography tomorrow

Richard.

[MoiVous]

Isn't it unusual for Adelaide to reach 45C+ (113F+). Normally, if it's a heatwave it's Perth, Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, perhaps Brisbane.

Actually, Adelaide and Melbourne (the SE corner) often reach 40C+ and heatwaves occur annually in each city. I can recall heatwaves occuring when I was a kid in the 1960s (oops - showing my age) and in the 1980s as well (during the big drought of that period) - but only a few days. What is unusual is the magnitude of the temperature extreme as well as the duration.

This is highlighted in these very interesting graphs for summer in SE Australia since 1950 and Eastern Australia. (Look at the average temperature on the left, then add the anomaly temperature to it for each year).

These two graphs suggest that the South Eastern corner is having more maximum temperatures recently than the Eastern parts.

Whilst the eastern cities are affected by the Pacific ocean winds, the South Eastern states are affected by winds from the centre of the country which occur over the Jan-Mar period.

Historically, late February/early March have been the bad periods. Occuring sooner is unusual, and according to some recent research, its related to the Indian Ocean

I'm sure there is a Pentax using meteorologist out there who can clarify this more.

In the meantime, the animals in the bush are falling out of the trees and hiding during the heat of the day......

[xjjohnno]

I might bore you with some stats I dug up from the BOM site when I was doing a paper for my OHS diploma on heat stress. This is for Melbourne btw. Average max temp for Feb till last year was 25.3c, Jan was 25.8c, with 6.9 days over 30c, so if those old stats are to be believed, our summers are definitely getting quite warm

[Mallee Boy]

I was born some 90 miles due east of Adelaide and lived there (Karoonda) up until 1999. Heat waves were part and parcel of life, some years more so than others. We used to dread going back to school as the first week back was generally a scorcher, teachers would often move us out of the timber class rooms (no air con) to the shade of a gum tree...with a book..and the not so subtle threat, read quietly or we go back inside....we read very quietly.

I can recall one year where we had 8 days running of century plus heat BEFORE christmas, that would have been the early 70's....remember it well because we trying to harvest and air conditioned cabs were not the go back then. The fire risk was enormous and we used to have fire fighting chaser vehicles in eyeysight of our harvesting machinery at all times, and would often have to stop working after 2pm and go again later in the evening/night. God it was hot!!

The cycle continues.

Cheers
Grant

[dosdan]

I can recall one year where we had 8 days running of century plus heat BEFORE christmas, that would have been the early 70's....remember it well because we trying to harvest and air conditioned cabs were not the go back then. The fire risk was enormous and we used to have fire fighting chaser vehicles in eyeysight of our harvesting machinery at all times, and would often have to stop working after 2pm and go again later in the evening/night. God it was hot!!

And now you live on the Gold Coast. Grant, you must think you've died and gone to heaven (as regards the climate, if nothing else).

Dan.

[ppeter]

It's currently 41.4C here in Adelaide with an expected low of 32C tonight !

[Dale]

Saturday is looking interesting. For the first time we have fire weather estimates that exceed Forest Fire Danger indexes of 100.

To put it mildly, this is not good. Forest fires burning on days of FDI over 50 are considered to be difficult if not impossible to stop. We have forecast FDI's of over 140 for much of the State of Victoria. There are two fires burning in forest, that with forecast conditions will run into rural/urban areas.

Here is Melb airport forecast.

Location MaxT DewP RH Wind (kph) FFDI GFDI
(C) (C) (%) DIR SPD GUST
Tullamarine 44 -3 5 NNW 55 85 164 175

Not really nice weather at all.