RAAF Base N. Of Adelaide Hits 41.7C At 3:00 AM - "Without Known Precedent In Southern Australia"

[hatrack]

Weather watchers warn Australians will have to get used to more heatwaves after the record-setting temperatures that have scorched the country's southeast so far this year.

While Tasmania experienced its highest temperature on record, much of Victoria and South Australia baked in temperatures well above 40 degrees - the highest being 48.2 at Kyancutta, SA, on January 28. Victoria peaked at 45.8 degrees at Avalon Airport on January 29, then Charlton on January 31, falling short of the state's record of 47.2, while Adelaide also sweated through its warmest night on record, the mercury slipping to only 33.9 in the early hours of January 29.

Around the same time, RAAF Edinburgh, in the city's north, recorded a temperature of 41.7 degrees at 3.04am, fanned by strong winds. "Such an event appears to be without known precedent in southern Australia," a climate statement released by the Bureau of Meteorology on Wednesday said.

Climatologist David Jones said global warming, while a key issue, was not the sole reason for the heatwave. "It's a complex discussion. What global warming does is . .. it increases the frequency of hot events and decreases the frequency or likelihood of a cold event," Dr Jones said. "It's about relative probability. Look back over the last decade in Australia, we've had one or two really cold spells but we've had many more really hot spells and that's what it's about.

EDIT

http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2009/feb/04/aap-weather-watchers-issue-heatwave-warning/

[kestrel91316]

1. This would attract more of people's notice if the temps were in F.

41.7 C = 107 F

[hatrack]

2. True dat! But I kind of like the international tingle that posting in Celsius offers . . .

:hi:

[enlightenment]

3. I've gotten pretty good with doing the conversions in my head

but I'm definitely not a maths person, so I use this website most often!

http://www.teaching-english-in-japan.net/conversion/celsius/

I like it because you can adjust the table to the temps and increments you need at the moment.

As for the temps - I feel sorry for them, but living in Las Vegas, we have at least one week every summer with similar air temps (and much, much hotter in reality because LV is 90% concrete.) Still, 107 at 3am is HOT. Poor sods.

[Bigmack]

4. My Ex-old man, the Scientist

told me that if I double the celsius temp and add 32 you get roughly the "f" degrees - but when you get much above 35 degrees C, that doesn't work so well..... Ms Bigmack