Australia heat

This is the time to point this out.

Judging by the numbers coming to this website, Australians are amongst the most complacent and disinterested in the themes followed on this blog, in the world. Australians simply don't figure amongst the visitors to this site (compared, amongst others, to 8,700 Americans and 2,500 Kiwis in the last month).

If Australia isn't interested in the world, the world is interested in Australia

 

Major fire threats put brigades on high alert

SMH,

4 January, 2013

PARTS of the state are facing their most serious bushfire threat in more than a decade amid a heatwave across much of Australia.

The Rural Fire Service said brigades statewide had been briefed about the conditions, and there were concerns public complacence about fire safety was worsening.

The RFS deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers, said parts of the state, particularly in the west and the south, faced the most serious bushfire threat in 12 years.

''We've had two record wet years and before that 10 years of drought when there was nothing to burn, so people haven't had a major fire danger for 12 years in some cases,'' he said. ''There could be a lot of complacency out there and that is obviously the biggest killer.''

A total fire ban is in place on Friday for the Riverina district. Groups of fire fighters from Sydney and the Hunter have toured parts of the state's west to see the conditions they will be up against if large fires break out in that region.

There were 35 bushfires in NSW on Thursday. Six were burning out of control, but none were threatening property.

A cool change is forecast after the hot weather this week. But temperatures will rise again, coupled with strong winds, next week.

''Early next week the vegetation will be pre-heated and very ready to burn. If the conditions come through that they are talking about then we would be quite concerned about weather early next week,'' Mr Rogers said.

''They will be the type of fires that start quickly, will be very difficult to contain and have the potential to cause quite a lot of damage.''

Mr Rogers said it was important that people prepared their homes for a bushfire and remained alert for possible outbreaks of fires if they were visiting national parks and regional areas.

State swelters as Melbourne tops 40

the Age,

4 January, 2013

At 4pm, Melbourne recorded 40.9 degrees - just off the city's forecast top of 41. Hopetoun was the hottest place in the state, with 43.9, while Ouyen was at 43.6 and Mildura was at 43.4. Swan Hill was 42.6, and Horsham was 42.9 degrees.

Even normally-mild Gippsland was sweltering: Bairnsdale was 43.3 and the La Trobe Valley was 40.6.

But relief is on the way. A cool change has hit Port Fairy where the temperature has fallen from 42 to 26. The change is expected to arrive in Melbourne sometime between 9pm and midnight.

‘‘It will be late tonight,’’ Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said. ‘‘It won’t bring rainfall but we will see the temperature drop to 20 degrees. It will take a while though.’’

But the only ones lucky enough to get the change are those living near the coast. Victorians living inland – apart from those in the Alps – will have a unpleasantly hot night and then five or more days of relentless heat.

‘‘For the next week the temperatures will remain this high in northern Victoria. It’s the beginning of the heatwave for them. There’s no sign of any cool change to push that hot air away.’’

The opening night of an outdoor production of Alice in Wonderland at Ripponlea has been cancelled due to the hot weather.

VicRoads, meanwhile, is urging drivers travelling in regional areas to take precautions such as letting others know of their travel plans and arrival times, driving with a full tank of petrol, and carrying plenty of water in case of an unplanned stop.

And while the West Gate Bridge is scheduled to reopen with all lanes by Monday, the Western Ring Road will be closed Altona-bound between the Tullamarine Freeway and Sydney Road on Sunday.

Drivers on the Pakenham bypass on the Princess Freeway will also endure lane closures next week and VicRoads is urging drivers to use the old Princes Highway while travelling through Pakenham.

Overnight, the temperature stayed close to 28 degrees in Melbourne until about 1am on Friday, and only dropped as low as 24, before it started climbing again at 7am.

It was still hotter than 30 degrees shortly after 10pm on Thursday, and there will be little relief today with a forecast maximum of 41.

The temperature will drop to 27 on Saturday before climbing again to 31 on Sunday and 38 on Monday.

There is a total fire ban across Victoria, with the Wimmera, south-west and central regions - which includes Melbourne and Geelong - expecting extreme conditions - only one level below code red.

One Mentone family trying to get cool enough to sleep on Thursday were woken up when smoke started coming through their ducting.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade believes the house fire was started by an evaporative cooling system.

The EPA is still investigating the spill and the warning remains current, but its beach report shows good water quality at the 35 other monitored beaches in the bay.

Mildura will be set for one of its longest consecutive spells of days above 40 degrees, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Duty forecaster Michael Halfpenny said the town reached 40.0 on Thursday and has five further days of 40-plus forecast - 44 on Friday, followed by 43, 41, 44 and 43 on Tuesday.

That’s six in a row, and if Wednesday’s forecast top of 38 goes to 40 that will be seven. [Thursday’s forecast top is a mere 34].

How does that compare historically? In the horrendous heatwave of January 27 to February 7 2009, which culminated in Black Saturday, Mildura had twelve consecutive days above 40. On Black Saturday itself, it reached 46.7.

For consecutive days in January alone, 1939 still holds the record – nine days above 40, with 39.9 on the tenth day.

More recently, there was a run of six consecutive days above 40 in 1979.

And the hottest day ever in Mildura? That’s a matter of some debate. 50.8 – Victoria’s hottest-recorded temperature – was recorded on January 6 1906, but doubts about accuracies of the equipment used lead the Bureau of Meteorology to believe it may have only reached 48.3.

Bushfires on the run in Tasmania

the Age,

4 January, 2013

Bushfires are on the run in Tasmania, threatening rural hamlets in extreme weather conditions.

The Tasmanian Fire Service posted emergency warnings for two large fires in the island's south that broke containment lines.

The Bureau of Meteorology said Hobart had its all-time record of 41.3 degrees at 1.53 pm on Friday, exceeding a 1976 record of 40.8 degrees, with hot and gusty northerly winds pushing the fires.

East of Hobart, a fire that began on Thursday crossed the main Arthur Highway, forcing police to close all road access to the tourist destination of the Tasman Peninsula.

The TFS said embers ahead of the main front were falling on the community of Dunalley, and houses were also reported to be under threat in the town of Forcett.

The service's acting district officer, Andrew McGuinness, said the blaze had taken a significant run in severe conditions.

Mr McGuinnes said another of the worst fires was burning near Ellendale in the Derwent Valley, west of Hobart.

Mr McGuinness, said this blaze, which began on Thursday in bushland, was expected to reach the farms and small-holdings around Ellendale within hours.

Police said it appeared that this fire started on Thursday from a campfire that was not properly extinguished on Wednesday night, before a total fire ban was imposed

Several hundred firefighters using 114 units were fighting a total of 19 fires with no relief in sight from the conditions until later on Friday night.