Australia Is Baking Under a Record-Smashing Heat Wave

It is basically, actually, actually sizzling in Australia proper now.

On Thursday, Onslow, a coastal city in Western Australia north of Perth, recorded a high temperature of 123.3 levels Fahrenheit (50.7 levels Celsius). That sweltering warmth ties the report for the most popular temperature ever recorded within the southern hemisphere, which was set in 1960 within the South Australia outback.

While Onslow was the most popular spot on the continent on Thursday, it wasn’t alone in struggling by way of the warmth. The close by cities of Roebourne and Mardie each recorded temperatures of 122.9 levels Fahrenheit (50.5 levels Celsius), each of that are data as nicely. Before this week, Australia has solely crossed the 122-degree-Fahrenheit (50-degree-Celsius) mark thrice in its historical past. Now, it’s occurred at three places in sooner or later—and much more intense warmth is on the way in which.

Luke Huntington, a meteorologist at Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, advised local outlet WA Today that the dry spring the world has had could possibly be contributing to the record-setting temperatures—and that this development may proceed.

“The Pilbara region has had persistent hot temperatures over the last few months. and there has been no rainfall to really take away the hot air that has built up,” he mentioned. “Over the next few months. there is a high chance that temperatures on a day-to-day basis will be above average, at least until the wet season rains hit properly.”

Crossing that historic threshold is unimaginable in itself, however other places in Western Australia broke temperature data or noticed worrying highs this week. The coastal city of Karratha, which is a 83-mile (134-kilometer) drive away from Mardie, noticed 119.1 levels Fahrenheit (48.4 levels Celsius), breaking its earlier report of 118.8 levels Fahrenheit (48.2 levels Celsius). The Gascoyne area, the place a bushfire is currently burning over 560,884 acres, additionally noticed temperatures prime 104 levels Fahrenheit (40 levels Celsius). The Bureau of Meteorology has extreme heatwave warnings in place for sure areas on the coast by way of Friday, and Onslow is predicted to see 120.2 levels Fahrenheit (49 levels Celsius) on Friday.

The warmth is more and more par of the course in Australia, as burning fossil fuels continues to change the local weather. The nation has seen various disturbing heat-related calamities lately. Among them are the horrific 2019-20 bushfire season that decimated wildlife populations throughout the continent and left the nation with a $1.5 billion medical invoice. The alarming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report launched final yr warned that warmth waves that beforehand would have occurred as soon as each 50 years will turn into about eight occasions extra widespread because the planet heats up by 1.5 levels Celsius of (2.7 levels Fahrenheit), a goal considered in science and worldwide agreements as comparatively secure. 

Australia additionally isn’t the one place that has seen a summer time from hell. Driven by warmth within the northern hemisphere, final July ranked the hottest month on report. And with a sweltering heatwave additionally baking Argentina proper now, it seems to be prefer it’s the southern hemisphere’s flip to buckle up.