Australian Temperature Record Broken Twice In One Night

Fairfax - Rachel Clun

The record for the highest overnight minimum temperature has been broken twice in one night.
Weather stations at Noona, west of Dubbo, and Borrona Downs, west of Bourke, recorded overnight minimum temperatures of 35.9 degrees and 35.6 degrees respectively.

The record for hottest overnight temperature was broken overnight. Credit: John Veage

The NSW stations both broke the record set by a remote South Australian station almost 40 years ago, Bureau of Meteorology forecaster David Wilke said on Friday.

"The previous record for highest minimum temperature is 35.5, set on the 24th of January, 1982, at Arkaroola in South Australia, and that was equalled in 2003 in a place called Wittenoon in Western Australia on the 21st of January," he said.
Mr Wilke said that, as well as breaking national records, a number of stations broke their own records for the hottest overnight temperatures, including Tibooburra Airport, Cobar Airport and Coonabarabran Airport.
Minimum overnight temperatures would be slightly cooler over the next couple of nights, with minimums expected to hit the low 20s on Saturday, Mr Wilke said.

Overnight temperatures are forecast to stay in the low 20s across most of Sydney, making it hard to sleep. Credit: Christopher Pearce

Thanks to a trough moving across the state, temperatures in Sydney on Saturday will drop to 29 degrees in the city and 33 degrees in Penrith - a change of 13 degrees from Friday's forecast high of 45 in the west, he said.

However, Mr Wilke said the trough was not bringing a strong change, so temperatures would climb again into next week.

"The main problem is we don’t see the humidity really clearing out significantly," he said.
"We’ll see this relief from the heat in the next couple of days, particularly for the south-east, but the heat will continue building next week."

Fire ban, severe fire warning issued

The heat, combined with strong north-easterly winds on Friday have prompted the bureau to issue a fire weather warning for parts of the state on Friday.

The Rural Fire Service has also issued total fire bans for 13 areas.
Severe fire danger was forecast for the Southern Ranges and Southern Slopes regions, and a very high fire danger for areas around Canberra and the Illawarra and Shoalhaven areas.

The total fire bans were in places including the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, the greater Hunter area, and areas around Canberra.

Links

• Roads melt as temperatures break records across NSW
• The world's 15 hottest sites on Tuesday were all in Australia
• Bureau of Meteorology calls run of prolonged heatwaves ‘unusual’ in length and intensity
• Australia heatwave: overnight minimum of 35.9C in Noona sets new record 
• NSW Heatwave
• 'Civilisation in crisis': Science tells us how to eat to save our planet
• 'One died in front of us': More dead fish surface in the Darling River