Southern Australia endures worst heatwave for 150 years

by Amy Judd | January 31, 2009 at 02:09 pm

931 views | 24 Recommendations | 11 comments

The worst heatwave in over 150 years has hit Southern Australia, causing 19 deaths and raising the risk of bushfires across the country.

For the past three days, the temperature has hit higher than 109F, which is 43C; the last time this happened was in 1855. This has been likened to a natural disaster as this is really extreme weather caused by climate change. It is just like the severe drought in Argentina right now, or the ice storms in Kentucky.

Bushfires are also increasing across the country as everything is just so dry and the winds have picked up. The increase in the use of air conditioners caused a breakdown in the Melbourne's electricity grid and as a result, half a million people lost power to their homes.

The damage so far is estimated at about 100,000 Australian dollars.

On Friday night more than 200 people escaped the sweltering heat by attending a new cinema where an inflatable screen had been set up next to an outdoor swimming people - allowing viewers to cool off as they enjoyed the Will Smith film Hancock.

Some benevolent companies offered to let their employees leave early, but in a rare exhibition of presenteeism in January, workers decided to linger in their air-conditioned offices rather than take their chances on the baking streets below.

At least 19 people have died from the heat so far, and most of those people were elderly. Children are also at risk too.
This weather is expected to continue for the next seven days at least.

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Roger Hooton

at 17:55 on January 31st, 2009

Sunday 1st February 2009. The local council still have NOT done anything to clean this FIRE HAZARD up as it is too dangerous to use cutting and clearing equipment as such could cause a fire. Catch 22 situation. If this had been private land the council could have fined the owner for not cleaning up months ago. Yes it IS very frightening especially when there are many bush fires (wild fires) happening at this very moment.

Roger Hooton has contributed a photo to this story.

Amy Judd

at 18:02 on January 31st, 2009

Yes something has to be done soon as the fire risk is just so great at the moment. Thanks for your update.

Zonifer Lloyd

at 18:15 on January 31st, 2009

On Jan. the 29th and 30th. we were working in Marree in the north of South Australia for 2 days and decided to take a look out at Hergott Spring. Where there was water lying around a few weeks ago was now dried and cracked mud. The temperature on the 2 days we were there was 47 or 117 on the first day and by 10.30 am the next day it was already 46 or 115. On the first day there was no power in the town until around midnight. Nearly everybody was at the Marree Hotel as they had the only cold drinks in town and being an old building with thick stone walls, it afforded a little respite from the oppressive heat outside. Everybody was certainly happy to see the crew from ETSA arrive late in the night to fix the power problem.

Zonifer Lloyd has contributed a photo to this story.

Amy Judd

at 18:17 on January 31st, 2009

It's amazing that the spring dried up so quickly - it must have been just awful waiting for the power to be restored. Thanks for sharing your personal perspective.

Heath Raymond (not verified)

at 21:21 on January 31st, 2009

The heatwave in Adelaide & South Australia is somewhat oppressive & making it uncomfortable to conduct normal day to day tasks. After five days of the heat, people are starting to become aclimatised & some local sporting events & activities in a few regions still went ahead.

Despite being excessively hot, South Australians are used to enduring at least one heatwave each year & this years event is simply a little hotter than normal.

As for climate change, I think it is a little sensationalist to attribute this type of event to global warming when similar temperatures where being endured back in 1855?

Ansell Wannabe

at 00:56 on February 1st, 2009

Aussie HEAT! Even Canon's best white lenses distort the view in these unrelenting conditions.

Ansell Wannabe has contributed a photo to this story.

158

at 11:44 on February 1st, 2009

I was surprised by this until I remembered it is summer in Australia.

bluerosellared

at 18:00 on February 1st, 2009

For me too, living in Orange, in the central tablelands of NSW, have been experiencing more than 5 consecutive days of above 30 degree temperatures. It is unusual for Orange, at 900 metres above sea level to have an average temperature of 35 degrees celcius for this long.....and its not over yet! For me, that means staying hydrated and cool at lake canobolas. This lake is the only significant body of water for public access within 80 kms of Orange, so it is quite popular for swimming, bar-b-ques, fishing, boating, lazing about and capturing photos of people enjoying doing just that.

Susan Salmon

Uwe Paschen

at 18:39 on February 1st, 2009

Is the Glass half empty or half full? This is what the environmental debate boils down to.

Informative (not verified)

at 05:32 on April 3rd, 2009

Have a look at this, for some details of more about what happened during the Heat Wave:

http://www.wattclarity.com.au/Public/Article.aspx?aid=66

Disaster (not verified)

at 21:38 on April 14th, 2009

There is a possibility that many people, animals and plants will die if this kind of weather will continue for the weeks to come. This can also be considered as disaster due to it’s negative effects to the people. There are two forms of disaster; natural and manmade. Disaster, be it natural or manmade, is a fascinating topic. Many out there are devotees to one specific disaster, and all associated memorabilia, the Titanic. The RMS Titanic is among the worst of maritime disasters. Lousy materials and construction paired with a flawed design made for a very bad disaster. But it's not just the Titanic. Lots of people are fascinated with the tales of survivors, and some look into an online payday loan to get their hands on new stuff. Others would look into no end of personal loans to ward off the next natural or man made disaster.