Advertisement

‘Relentless heat’: Bureau dubs this summer one of the hottest on record

A Climate Council report says 206 weather records were broken this summer.

A Climate Council report says 206 weather records were broken this summer. Photo: AAP

There is still one month of summer remaining but the Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed it will be one of the hottest on record, dubbing it a season of “relentless heat”.

December and January have brought heatwaves, droughts, cyclones and bushfires.

In particular, December was a month of extreme, the bureau said on Tuesday, with the national mean temperature about two degrees above historical averages.

There were only two days in the whole month where the temperature was not above average.

December 27 was the hottest day on record for the month in more than 100 years – Marble Bar in Western Australia recorded its highest temperature at 49.3 degrees.

The mean temperature in January was the hottest on record. Source: Bureau of Meteorlogy

January just ticked over, and the bureau has confirmed it was the hottest January on record with a national mean temperature of 30.81 degrees – the previous record was 29.82 degrees, five years ago.

No states were safe from extreme highs – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Tasmania all posted their warmest mean temperatures, while South Australia and WA sweltered through their second hottest January.

The extreme temperatures were accompanied by below-average rainfall across the country, except in northern Queensland, which was subject to two tropical cyclones in December.

The Northern Territory’s monsoon season also arrived a month late, on January 23.

A map shows the highest maximum temperatures across the country in December and January. Photo: Bureau of Meteorlogy

Why the extremes?

The extreme summer was not a surprise to the bureau, which predicted a hotter, drier three months in its climate outlook late last year.

The seemingly endless heatwave was influenced by a meeting of various factors: A lack of cloud, dry conditions in central Australia, and unusual weather patterns.

“The heat has been almost relentless for many parts of the country – and unprecedented in scale and duration,” the bureau said on Tuesday.

And according to historical data, plus future predictions, it’s not the last extreme summer the country will sweat through.

Last year, the bureau released a report that indicated the country’s average temperature has risen by one degree since 1910.

The report also noted the frequency of extreme heatwaves has increased, and they’re likely to crop up even more in the future.

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.