The Australian bushfires

Outback town swelters through week of 45C

Residents in a South Australian outback town are preparing for their seventh consecutive day above 45 degrees Celsius.

ABC,

8 January, 2013

The temperature at Oodnadatta in the state's far north is forecast to reach 47C today after reaching 46C on Saturday and 47C on Sunday and Monday.

It will be the tenth day in a row above 40C.

The last time the town experienced a maximum under 35C was on December 10.

The Bureau of Meteorology says the town has already set a new local record, eclipsing two previous runs of five days in a row above 45C.

Lynnie Plate from Oodnadatta's Pink Roadhouse says residents are struggling to stay cool.

"The bitumen is melting, our freezer is not coping. I had to throw out half a dozen cartons of ice cream yesterday," she said.

"Nothing is coping really. The petrol pumps won't pump unleaded after midday. They vaporise so we've got to wait for a cool change if there is such a thing.

"We've had hot days, we've had 45 plus here most definitely but not for this length of time and not with it being 45.7 degrees at five o'clock in the evening."

Tomorrow will be a reprieve of sorts, with the temperature 'only' heading for 42C before soaring to 46C again on Friday.

The run of days above 45C is still well short of the national record.

In 1973, the mercury touched 45C for 13 days in a row at Marree, about 400 kilometres south-east of Oodnadatta.

Bourke and Cobar both had eight days above 45C in the 1930s.

Oodnadatta has received 1.4 millimetres of rain since the start of December.

Hottest days on record

State by state:
NSW: 49.7C, Menindee, January 10, 1939
ACT: 42.2C, Canberra, February 1, 1968
NT: 48.3C, Finke, January 1, 1960
SA: 50.7C, Oodnadatta, January 2, 1960
Qld: 49.5C, Birdsville, December 24, 1972
Tas: 42.2C, Scamander, January 30, 2009
WA: 50.5C, Mardie, February 19, 1998
Vic: 48.8C, Hopetoun, February 7, 2009
Capital cities:
Sydney: 45.3C, January 14, 1939
Canberra: 42.2C, February 1, 1968
Darwin: 40.5C, October 17, 1892
Adelaide: 47.6C, January 12, 1939
Brisbane: 43.2C, January 26, 1940
Hobart: 41.8C, January 4, 2013
Perth: 46.2C, February 23, 1991
Melbourne: 46.4C, February 7, 2009

The ABC is providing continuous coverage of the bush fires HERE