Australia is really hot right now. It’s scorching hot literally. Onslow is a coastal town north of Perth in Western Australia. It had a peak temperature of 123.3 degrees Fahrenheit (50.7 degrees Celsius) on Thursday. This torrid heat in Australia equals the hottest temperature ever recorded in the southern hemisphere. It was set in the outback of South Australia in 1960.
Onslow was the hottest place on the continent on Thursday, but it wasn’t the only one who felt the heat. Temperatures of 122.9 degrees Fahrenheit (50.5 degrees Celsius) were reported in the surrounding towns of Roebourne and Mardie. Both of them are records. Australia had only exceeded the 122-degree-Fahrenheit (50-degree-Celsius) threshold three times in its history before this week. It’s now happened three times in one day—and more extreme heat is on the way.
Luke Huntington is a meteorologist with Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. He told local news site WA Today that the area’s dry spring could be contributing to the region’s record-breaking temperatures. Also, the pattern could continue.
“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 said. “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.”
Australia is becoming increasingly hot
Crossing that historic threshold is remarkable in and of itself. But other parts of Western Australia had record-breaking temperatures or hottest temperatures this week. Karratha is a coastal town 83 miles (134 kilometers) south of Mardie. It recorded a temperature of 119.1 degrees Fahrenheit (48.4 degrees Celsius). Thereby, topping the previous record of 118.8 degrees Fahrenheit (48.2 degrees Celsius).
Temperatures in the Gascoyne region, where a blaze is presently burning over 560,884 acres, reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). The Bureau of Meteorology has issued extreme heatwave warnings for parts of the coast until Friday. Temperatures in Onslow are likely to reach 120.2 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius) on Friday.
As the climate continues to alter by the combustion of fossil fuels, Australia is becoming increasingly hot. In recent years, the country has had a series of distressing heat-related disasters. The disastrous 2019-20 wildfire season destroyed wildlife populations throughout the continent. It also cost the government $1.5 billion in medical bills.
The alarming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report last year. It warned that as the planet warms by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), a target viewed as relatively safe in science and international agreements, heat waves that occur once every 50 years will become eight times more common.
Australia isn’t the only country that has experienced a summer to remember. Last July was the warmest month on record, owing to extreme heat in the northern hemisphere. With a blistering heatwave currently engulfing Argentina, it appears that the southern hemisphere may have to buckle up as well.
