Western Australia Ties All-Time Record Southern Hemisphere High Temperature: 123.3F

[hatrack]

The Southern Hemisphere may have just matched its hottest temperature on record Thursday. A station in Onslow, a small coastal town in Western Australia, registered a sweltering 123.3 degrees (50.7 degrees Celsius) amid a severe heat wave. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has begun a meticulous review of the temperature reading. If verified, it would tie the all-time high reading set in Oodnadatta, Australia, on Jan. 2, 1960.

A massive heat dome was parked over Western Australia, with Onslow sitting directly underneath it. Temperatures were about 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) above normal at the hottest time of year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=916
European model analysis of high temperatures Monday in Australia. Green areas are at least 50 Celsius (122 degrees). (WeatherBell)

“Considering the increasing temperature trends over the past decades, it is less surprising that we see extreme temperatures like the one in Western Australia at the moment,” wrote Nina Ridder, researcher at the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes at the University of New South Wales at Sydney.

Western Australia is currently coming off its third-warmest December in 2021. Ridder said mean sea surface temperatures in northwest Western Australia have also been above average — about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) higher in December 2021 than average — and could have detrimental effects on marine ecosystems, such as inducing coral bleaching.

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/01/13/australia-southern-hemisphere-temperature-record/

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Oh, niiiice. nt