Welcome to my third daily diary of an Australian heatwave event. This heat event is marked by persistent heat from the Pilbara and Central Australia from mid December 2018 that sends out waves of heat to impact the south east population centres of Adelaide in South Australia, Melbourne and inland Victoria, western NSW spreading to include Canberra and Sydney.
Read my diary entries for the Christmas New Year heatwave: Climate Diary of an extreme heatwave across Australia and climate heat impacts, covering Dedcember 22 to January 6.
I followed this up with a second blog article documenting the heat event from January 14 – January 19: Take 2: Climate Diary of an Australian heatwave – January 2019
Heat Health alerts issued for Melbourne and Victoria
Over the weekend of 19-20 January the heat retreated to the Pilbara and Central Australia, but the heat event is far from dissipating. Heat Records continue to be broken.
Why am I documenting this? Because climate change is a primary driver of more extreme heat events. Read the Climate Council 2014 Report on Heatwaves: Hotter Longer, More often.
- Monday 21 January 2019 – Perth feels the heat, Consecutive day heat records for Birdsville, Camooweal and Cloncurry, heat a killer to wild budgies, Consecutive day record for Newman in the Pilbara region, heat health and bushfire warnings for Victoria, Solar reducing heatwave power peak
- Tuesday 22 January 2019 – Severe heat to hit Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Thursday a ‘horror day’ for South Australia
Extreme heat round 3…
Next pulse of #heatwave conditions moving to south eastern Australia this week, starting to gather in Western Australia. Pilbara still with 40C heat, last 2 days Perth > 40C. See #BOM Meteye forecast for Thursday https://t.co/XUT75mf3hL pic.twitter.com/dFifnnTv0A
— John Englart EAM (@takvera) January 20, 2019
“Now, Western Australia is kicking off a third round. This round looks to be more of a traditional setup. The last 2 have been drawn out, prolonged and relentless. This one looks to be of the traditional variety – starting in the West with Perth hitting 40.4ºc yesterday and 42.1ºc today. This heat should then track East across the remainder of WA tomorrow (Monday), then into SA on Tuesday through to Thursday and across South East AUS from about Wednesday or Thursday into the early weekend. This one is expected to bring more extremely hot temperatures to Inland areas where places like Birdsville, Ballera, North West NSW and Northern SA are expected to see several days once again in the Mid 40’s. This will likely continue to extend Birdsville’s current record streak of 9 consecutive days above 45ºc out to around 15 or 16 days in a row. Oodnadatta is only 1 day off breaking its record for number of 45ºc days in 1 Summer (tied on 13 with last year at the moment) – so thats likely to be broken too.” – Higgins Storm Chasing: Heatwave #3 set to move across AUS this week!
Perth so far has missed most of the heat, but on the weekend of 20th and 21st January got a blast of 40 degree heat. That heat will move east over the coming week to blast the major east coast populations again. But most of the impacts will be felt over a wide area of inland Australia: from Western Australia, the lower Northern Territory, northern South Australia, western Queensland, western New South Wales and northern Victoria.
Well, its only 10:30am and already 40°C in Perth. Yuck. The good news is that the sea breeze has kicked in over coastal suburbs, and will make a slow journey inland for the rest of the day.
It’s going to remain very hot inland though, with temps expected to exceed 40°C pic.twitter.com/k6gKHuAvxR— Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia (@BOM_WA) January 20, 2019
New consecutive day heat records for Birdsville, Camooweal and Cloncurry
🌡️ #Heatwave continues unabated in #Qld! #Birdsville has now had 9 days in a row over 45C; Camooweal and Cloncurry have sweated 😰 through 36 consecutive days above 40C – all breaking records. No relief in sight until at least next weekend 😬. More temps https://t.co/0vluallsnJ
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) January 20, 2019
Birdsville…
Queensland town of #Birdsville smashes heat persistence record: Nine days over 45C. “It’s like a fan forced oven straight off the desert, I started work at 6am and it was already 36C – it’s something we’re used to out here but this is tough,” #heatwave https://t.co/uQR4PesqNP
— John Englart EAM (@takvera) January 21, 2019
Even the wild budgies are finding the extreme heat a killer…
A good young mate of mine is working out on a property near McKinlay, Western QLD. Got back to the sheds this arv and the floor was covered in Budgies. Tried to save some but too stressed. pic.twitter.com/jft1btbHJl
— Col R (@ryder_col) January 18, 2019
Newman in WA’s Pilbara region sets a consecutive day heat record…
Whilst many parts of the country are having a reprieve from the recent #heatwave, the #Pilbara is still very hot. #Newman Airfield has now recorded 30 consecutive days above 40°C, beating previous record of 29 in 2007. https://t.co/qzivmSp8Pn pic.twitter.com/U4p8jxdrS1
— Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia (@BOM_WA) January 21, 2019
Heat Health alerts issued for Melbourne and Victoria…
#Melbourne Central Region has a #heathealth alert for Thursday, Friday currently about threshold. Nearly all Victorian regions have alerts issued. Stay hydrated, #survivetheheat #heatwave #heatwatchhttps://t.co/e9lbQUVFW0 pic.twitter.com/AAO5DKx2F9
— John Englart EAM (@takvera) January 21, 2019
Heat Health and bush fire warning…
Andrew Crisp, the Victorian state Emergency Commissioner @CommissionerEMV gives an overview of the elevated fire danger and reminds Victorians to stay safe in the heat and around water.
Extreme heat and heat health…
Solar moves and reduces the heatwave power peak…
Meanwhile solar cut total peak demand in NEM states by around 2000MW each day of heatwave & delayed peaks by several hours everyday in most states. like QLD on Friday w/o solar, level of demand reached at 5.45pm peak would’ve been reached ~6hr earlier at 11.05am #auspol #qldpol pic.twitter.com/3OfbPisGCS
— Australia Institute (@TheAusInstitute) January 21, 2019
Severe heat to hit Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney…
Severe #heatwave conditions returning to the southeast of Australia. Adelaide is expected to reach 37°C today, 38°C on Wednesday and 44°C on Friday. #Melbourne 38°C on Thursday and 41°C on Friday. #Sydney to expereince the heat over the weekend. Latest at https://t.co/oIDmxQYuBv pic.twitter.com/FQfREUxggj
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) January 22, 2019
Adelaide warming up…
It’s getting hotter over the next few days. Adelaide is headed for a top of 37°C today but some areas of #SouthAustralia including major centres like Renmark, Port Pirie and Port Augusta are forecast to be in the 40’s. Check your town’s forecast here https://t.co/1PRjWqoOMP pic.twitter.com/RCpnrzbZ8T
— Bureau of Meteorology, South Australia (@BOM_SA) January 21, 2019
Record run of 40C days for Alice Springs…
🔥 #Record run of +40C days for #AliceSprings 🔥 Today made it the twelfth day in a row where the max temps exceeded 40C. Hot for the rest of the week, with little relief in sight. Temps here: https://t.co/sGofB0pyI7 pic.twitter.com/x2rGaNBLvP
— Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory (@BOM_NT) January 22, 2019
South Australia extreme heat warning press conference…
“Thursday will be a horror day… with a sustained day of heat” warns South Australia Bureau of Meteorology chief.
Three days of extreme heat is expected across South Australia with high overnight temperatures with the worst expected on Thursday with most of the state in over 40 degree Celsius temperatures. A cool change in the early hours of Friday is expected.
This comes on the back of a heat event last week which saw 69 heat related presentations to SA hospitals, 31 heat related admissions.
John Nairn from the Bureau of Meteorology South Australia said that “Very likely we while be forecasting 45C” on Thursday” with records from Adelaide West terrace in 2009 of 45.7C, and in 1939 of 46.1C. “Those numbers are not far from being reached on Thursday”
We are on track to have the hottest summer on record.
“The south east is an area where the temperature range is not that high, and on the occasions when they experience much higher temperatures, the people down there aren’t nearly acclimatised to those temperatures and also the built environment and the infrastructure that supports them has not been designed around those temperatures. Therefore we can expect they have some additional problems to deal with. That is the reason why unusually high temperatures for our location are challenging.”
“Thursday will be a horror day”
“Thursday will be a horror day.” – John Nairn from @BOM_SA.
Walking on hot sand at the beach can burn your feet in seconds, as this South Aussie found out the hard way 🔥🔥 A reminder if you’re at the beach or walking around the pool – children and adults should wear shoes (don’t walk doggos in extreme heat either!) #HealthyInTheHeat pic.twitter.com/KMcSeMXVQh
— SA Health (@SAHealth) January 21, 2019
Hear the heatwave warning in @9NewsAdel at 6pm. pic.twitter.com/i95NReHVUl— Chelsea Carey (@ChelseaCarey_9) January 22, 2019
Severe #heatwave conditions returning to the southeast of Australia. #Adelaide expected to reach 37°C today, 40°C on Wednesday and 45°C on Thursday. #Melbourne 38°C on Thursday and 41°C on Friday. #Sydney to expereince the heat over the weekend. Latest at https://t.co/FpVAM7p5Bp pic.twitter.com/jV7C01zzsH
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) January 22, 2019
Surfaces can be extremely hot – mind your feet and the paws of pets.
Walking on hot sand at the beach can burn your feet in seconds, as this South Aussie found out the hard way 🔥🔥 A reminder if you’re at the beach or walking around the pool – children and adults should wear shoes (don’t walk doggos in extreme heat either!) #HealthyInTheHeat pic.twitter.com/KMcSeMXVQh
— SA Health (@SAHealth) January 21, 2019
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