OT - Australian Heatwave

[Arianddu]

Just got off the phone with an ex-military buddy of mine who lives in Texas now. They got a great little ice storm happening over there right now. His entire car is completely frozed the fuck shut under a thick sheet of ice, he couldn't even open the door of it to get out a pack of cigarettes he left in there. So much for global warming in some parts of the world.

I am sitting with my feet in a plastic tub of water and ice cubes, fan going full blast and fighting off one of the dogs who has decided she doesn't mind baths if they are cold and she is this hot, and is trying to get in too. The concept of an ice storm is really appealing right now!

[The Sushi Hunter]

Just got off the phone with an ex-military buddy of mine who lives in Texas now. They got a great little ice storm happening over there right now. His entire car is completely frozed the fuck shut under a thick sheet of ice, he couldn't even open the door of it to get out a pack of cigarettes he left in there. So much for global warming in some parts of the world.

I am sitting with my feet in a plastic tub of water and ice cubes, fan going full blast and fighting off one of the dogs who has decided she doesn't mind baths if they are cold and she is this hot, and is trying to get in too. The concept of an ice storm is really appealing right now!

Careful what you wish for sweetheart:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-ge ... orm.video/

[Voyager]

His entire car is completely frozed the fuck shut...

That's pretty cold.

[Rick]

His entire car is completely frozed the fuck shut...

That's pretty cold.

That must be colder than frozen the fuck shut.

[Andrew]

46C/115F in some cities yesterday, but the advantage of living next to an ocean kept things to a beautiful 75F here

Heading for 90F today.

[Rick]

46C/115F in some cities yesterday, but the advantage of living next to an ocean kept things to a beautiful 75F here

Heading for 90F today.

You guys are having some pretty ugly fires with that, aren't you?

[The Sushi Hunter]

46C/115F in some cities yesterday, but the advantage of living next to an ocean kept things to a beautiful 75F here

Heading for 90F today.

With temps like that....just don't go into the ocean for a swim....."when you jump into the ocean, you just throw away thousands of years of evolution and once again become part of the food chain" is my philosophy. And Australia has lots of cute sharks with nice sharp teeth and a tasty appetite.

[Andrew]

46C/115F in some cities yesterday, but the advantage of living next to an ocean kept things to a beautiful 75F here

Heading for 90F today.

You guys are having some pretty ugly fires with that, aren't you?

Not too bad so far. Our definition of ugly has expanded over the years as fires reach the MILLION hectare size. Right now there are 9 burning in Tasmania, but none larger than 500 hectares (2 sq miles).
There's 50 odd fires going in Vic, but all small so far and a few more in SA.

Problem is high winds kick in today and last time AU had a set of conditions like this 1000's houses were burnt and 73 people died in 1983 in Vic.... 50+ in Tas in 1967.

There's a major fire every year, so I guess this week is the one to watch.

[Rick]

46C/115F in some cities yesterday, but the advantage of living next to an ocean kept things to a beautiful 75F here

Heading for 90F today.

You guys are having some pretty ugly fires with that, aren't you?

Not too bad so far. Our definition of ugly has expanded over the years as fires reach the MILLION hectare size. Right now there are 9 burning in Tasmania, but none larger than 500 hectares (2 sq miles).
There's 50 odd fires going in Vic, but all small so far and a few more in SA.

Problem is high winds kick in today and last time AU had a set of conditions like this 1000's houses were burnt and 73 people died in 1983 in Vic.... 50+ in Tas in 1967.

There's a major fire every year, so I guess this week is the one to watch.

Stay safe and stay in doors. That crap will have you sick.

[Andrew]

So far so good...air still clean and fresh here

[The Sushi Hunter]

There's a major fire every year, so I guess this week is the one to watch.

California has lots of fires, but in most cases, the same exact place will burn no more then once every 15 to 20 years on the average.

[Andrew]

There's a major fire every year, so I guess this week is the one to watch.

California has lots of fires, but in most cases, the same exact place will burn no more then once every 15 to 20 years on the average.

About the same here. Maybe every 10 years, but I have seen fires rip thru areas done 5 years previous. All depends on the fuel loads. Like California, AU just has so much bush to burn, so there is always fires...always. Doesn't help that the trees contain flamable sap either!

And again like CA, AU has bush right up to and inside the actaul suburbs, hence the loss of a lot of houses at times.

[Andrew]

VICTORIA is bracing for another day of brutal heat amid warnings the tinder-dry state could erupt in flames, while South Australia is looking at six days of 40-plus temperatures.

The Herald Sun reports more than 100,000 firefighters are on standby as forecast strong winds will make the blistering heat even more dangerous. A total fire ban is in place across Victoria as Melbourne braces for another scorcher. More than 150 public transport services were cancelled as the state baked yesterday, and today's transport trouble is expected to be worse.

The Mallee towns of Hopetoun, Nhill and Longerenong all hit 45C. Scorchers were also recorded at Mildura (44C), the Latrobe Valley (43C), and Albury (41C).

Melbourne hit 43.4C at 6.15pm, leaving the city frazzled and without relief in sight. Temperatures of 43C are also expected today and tomorrow, just shy of the city's record of 45.6C, which was on January 13, 1939 - Black Friday.

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Norbett of Cairns Water use in the 24 hours to 8am yesterday averaged 250 litres per person, well above the recommended 155 litres.

In Adelaide, the mercury soared to 45.7C, just shy of the all-time record of 46.1C.

Ceduna, northwest of Adelaide, clocked an incredible 47.4C, the hottest temperature ever recorded in South Australia.

The furnace-like conditions were forecast to continue until at least Sunday, likely giving the city six days in a row of 40-plus temperatures for the first time since 1908, after Tuesday's top of 43.2 degrees. The relief will be minor, with Monday's temperature expected to be 38C. Last March, Adelaide had a record long heatwave with 15 consecutive days above 35 degrees.

Conditions further north were even worse yesterday with some outback centres reporting temperatures above 50C, prompting health authorities to urge all South Australians to take extreme care.

Firefighters were on high alert across SA while power authorities said the state's electricity network was coping reasonably well with the high demand.

Police said they had 40 operation Nomad patrols on duty, checking on people considered at risk of starting fires.

Melbourne's rail system buckled, causing the cancellation of a record 150 services, while in Adelaide the public transport system literally buckled in the heat.

At Rod Laver Arena, tennis officials invoked their extreme heat policy and closed the roof. Star Serena Williams said she had an "out of body experience" before the roof was closed, but she recovered to win her quarter-final.

[G.I.Jim]

VICTORIA is bracing for another day of brutal heat amid warnings the tinder-dry state could erupt in flames, while South Australia is looking at six days of 40-plus temperatures.

The Herald Sun reports more than 100,000 firefighters are on standby as forecast strong winds will make the blistering heat even more dangerous. A total fire ban is in place across Victoria as Melbourne braces for another scorcher. More than 150 public transport services were cancelled as the state baked yesterday, and today's transport trouble is expected to be worse.

The Mallee towns of Hopetoun, Nhill and Longerenong all hit 45C. Scorchers were also recorded at Mildura (44C), the Latrobe Valley (43C), and Albury (41C).

Melbourne hit 43.4C at 6.15pm, leaving the city frazzled and without relief in sight. Temperatures of 43C are also expected today and tomorrow, just shy of the city's record of 45.6C, which was on January 13, 1939 - Black Friday.

Related Coverage
Pictures: Our sizzling summer

Parks close as Adelaide heats up
NEWS.com.au, 29 Jan 2009
Parks closed as hot week continues
NEWS.com.au, 29 Jan 2009
Adelaide swelters through record night
Herald Sun, 29 Jan 2009
Sizzling temps may climb past record
NEWS.com.au, 28 Jan 2009
Blistering heat nears national record
NEWS.com.au, 28 Jan 2009 Your Say
you weak southerners - so it's a bit hot! and you're all dying - you call that hot! ha you're weak!

(Read More)

Norbett of Cairns Water use in the 24 hours to 8am yesterday averaged 250 litres per person, well above the recommended 155 litres.

In Adelaide, the mercury soared to 45.7C, just shy of the all-time record of 46.1C.

Ceduna, northwest of Adelaide, clocked an incredible 47.4C, the hottest temperature ever recorded in South Australia.

The furnace-like conditions were forecast to continue until at least Sunday, likely giving the city six days in a row of 40-plus temperatures for the first time since 1908, after Tuesday's top of 43.2 degrees. The relief will be minor, with Monday's temperature expected to be 38C. Last March, Adelaide had a record long heatwave with 15 consecutive days above 35 degrees.

Conditions further north were even worse yesterday with some outback centres reporting temperatures above 50C, prompting health authorities to urge all South Australians to take extreme care.

Firefighters were on high alert across SA while power authorities said the state's electricity network was coping reasonably well with the high demand.

Police said they had 40 operation Nomad patrols on duty, checking on people considered at risk of starting fires.

Melbourne's rail system buckled, causing the cancellation of a record 150 services, while in Adelaide the public transport system literally buckled in the heat.

At Rod Laver Arena, tennis officials invoked their extreme heat policy and closed the roof. Star Serena Williams said she had an "out of body experience" before the roof was closed, but she recovered to win her quarter-final.

Andrew... Not to bust your chops here, but why not move? I know you're just passing on info to us about the conditions there, but it seems like the Australia ALWAYS has terrible heat waves and fires! If I lived in an area that flooded all the time...I'd move! If I lived in tornado alley, I'd move. Hell, just move down here... all you'd have to worry about are rednecks and hurricanes! Come to think about it... Just stay where you are!

[Andrew]

Nah, love it here...the smell of the bush....ocean only 5 mins away....temperate climate most of the time....none of that snow and shit.

[G.I.Jim]

Nah, love it here...the smell of the bush....ocean only 5 mins away....temperate climate most of the time....none of that snow and shit.

Can I just send you some rednecks then? So you're still coming to our show in March right?

[Andrew]

Nah, love it here...the smell of the bush....ocean only 5 mins away....temperate climate most of the time....none of that snow and shit.

C'mon Andrew, just rub it in ONE more time about how close you are to the beach!

Ocean & beach 5mins to the South....Bush, walking trails and hills 2 mins to the North

[Maui Tom]

Nah, love it here...the smell of the bush....ocean only 5 mins away....temperate climate most of the time....none of that snow and shit.

C'mon Andrew, just rub it in ONE more time about how close you are to the beach!

Ocean & beach 5mins to the South....Bush, walking trails and hills 2 mins to the North

fuck the beach...the smell of bush!

[Don]

Nah, love it here...the smell of the bush....ocean only 5 mins away....temperate climate most of the time....none of that snow and shit.

C'mon Andrew, just rub it in ONE more time about how close you are to the beach!

Ocean & beach 5mins to the South....Bush, walking trails and hills 2 mins to the North

There's that word again.

[Vladan]

Andrew, Vladan - I hate both of you! Hobart's going to be 28 tomorrow, Canberra 35 - Adelaide is going to be 43! It's past midnight here and it's still 35!! The maximum is going to be 41 or above for the rest of the week. Thank god for airconditioning in the library, that's all I can say.

Fortunately, it does make the oean beautifully warm for early morning skin diving before Uni!

Yikes that's insane, well it's really strange because at the start of Summer, it was raining here every weekend, and it rained the other day, and out of the blue it's hot as hell, your probably lucky not to be here! it's very random weather in the ACT, you get all four seasons in one!

[Arianddu]

46C/115F in some cities yesterday, but the advantage of living next to an ocean kept things to a beautiful 75F here

Heading for 90F today.

I also live next to an ocean. And I hate you. At least until the temperature drops below 30. It was already 38 at 9am this morning, and hit 46 on campus today (admittedly in a concrete courtyard unaffectionatly refered to as 'The Pit'. Everywhere else was 'only' 43)

[Arianddu]

Andrew, Vladan - I hate both of you! Hobart's going to be 28 tomorrow, Canberra 35 - Adelaide is going to be 43! It's past midnight here and it's still 35!! The maximum is going to be 41 or above for the rest of the week. Thank god for airconditioning in the library, that's all I can say.

Fortunately, it does make the oean beautifully warm for early morning skin diving before Uni!

Yikes that's insane, well it's really strange because at the start of Summer, it was raining here every weekend, and it rained the other day, and out of the blue it's hot as hell, your probably lucky not to be here! it's very random weather in the ACT, you get all four seasons in one!

Are you guys channelling Melbourne again? Actually, we got a hell of a lot of rain in December, which has everyone worried because of course we've now got all that extra late season growth crisping into perfect kindling.

My ex is from Canberra, and when we lived there, he used to give me shit about how much I complained about being woken up with the weather report in winter telling me it was -6. My response was 'wait til we move to Adelaide and you have to deal with REAL summer.' I got a phone call from him half an hour ago, begging me to shoot him. I confess I laughed at him - a lot.

[Vladan]

Andrew, Vladan - I hate both of you! Hobart's going to be 28 tomorrow, Canberra 35 - Adelaide is going to be 43! It's past midnight here and it's still 35!! The maximum is going to be 41 or above for the rest of the week. Thank god for airconditioning in the library, that's all I can say.

Fortunately, it does make the oean beautifully warm for early morning skin diving before Uni!

Yikes that's insane, well it's really strange because at the start of Summer, it was raining here every weekend, and it rained the other day, and out of the blue it's hot as hell, your probably lucky not to be here! it's very random weather in the ACT, you get all four seasons in one!

Are you guys channelling Melbourne again? Actually, we got a hell of a lot of rain in December, which has everyone worried because of course we've now got all that extra late season growth crisping into perfect kindling.

My ex is from Canberra, and when we lived there, he used to give me shit about how much I complained about being woken up with the weather report in winter telling me it was -6. My response was 'wait til we move to Adelaide and you have to deal with REAL summer.' I got a phone call from him half an hour ago, begging me to shoot him. I confess I laughed at him - a lot.

Sorry to heart that, it's nice that you and your ex still keep in contact, you and you should laugh, because that's pretty funny. Mmmm, we are fairly high above sea level, although it's warmer else where in Australia obviously!. People here are still complaining, not sure why considering it's not that bad. We actually have a really nice cool breeze from around 10pm and so on straight through the night, till the sun rises. So it's rather easy to sleep, if you open the door - but make sure you have a screen door, there are mosquitoes

[Arianddu]

Andrew, Vladan - I hate both of you! Hobart's going to be 28 tomorrow, Canberra 35 - Adelaide is going to be 43! It's past midnight here and it's still 35!! The maximum is going to be 41 or above for the rest of the week. Thank god for airconditioning in the library, that's all I can say.

Fortunately, it does make the oean beautifully warm for early morning skin diving before Uni!

Yikes that's insane, well it's really strange because at the start of Summer, it was raining here every weekend, and it rained the other day, and out of the blue it's hot as hell, your probably lucky not to be here! it's very random weather in the ACT, you get all four seasons in one!

Are you guys channelling Melbourne again? Actually, we got a hell of a lot of rain in December, which has everyone worried because of course we've now got all that extra late season growth crisping into perfect kindling.

My ex is from Canberra, and when we lived there, he used to give me shit about how much I complained about being woken up with the weather report in winter telling me it was -6. My response was 'wait til we move to Adelaide and you have to deal with REAL summer.' I got a phone call from him half an hour ago, begging me to shoot him. I confess I laughed at him - a lot.

Sorry to heart that, it's nice that you and your ex still keep in contact, you and you should laugh, because that's pretty funny. Mmmm, we are fairly high above sea level, although it's warmer else where in Australia obviously!. People here are still complaining, not sure why considering it's not that bad. We actually have a really nice cool breeze from around 10pm and so on straight through the night, till the sun rises. So it's rather easy to sleep, if you open the door - but make sure you have a screen door, there are mosquitoes

I really don't miss Canberra mosquitoes. I suspect the CSIRO dumped something in Lake Burley-Griffin years ago to generate those blood-thirsty babies! Don't miss the annual swarms of horny beetles either. Bogong moths I can handle, but those beetles that hit in late summer just get everywhere! Actually, there's very little I miss about Canberra. Except the Ethiopian restaurant in Dixon, and 'Socrates' in the Civic Mall!
Well, and maybe watching the unsuspecting drunks and druggies freaking out when the Civic sculptures start talking to them. Oh, and Tillies.

Yeah, the ex is still a great friend. It was a very amicable break up; we just worked out we couldn't live in the same house.

[Shadowsong]

CA had some pretty hot triple digits this past summer.

I find it odd that the south of Australia is so warm.
I would figure up north for example Darwin or Cairns would be alot worse since its closer to the equator.

My parents live in the mountain ranges of north New South Wales about 100 miles from the coast & it's generally no more than 30C
No ocean but got a cool lazy river.

Here's a cool pic for those braving the Aussie sun...

Wish I was there right now!!!

[Saint John]

That's a cool picture, Shadow. I bet there's some good fishing in that river.

[Arianddu]

CA had some pretty hot triple digits this past summer.

I find it odd that the south of Australia is so warm.
I would figure up north for example Darwin or Cairns would be alot worse since its closer to the equator.

My parents live in the mountain ranges of north New South Wales about 100 miles from the coast & it's generally no more than 30C
No ocean but got a cool lazy river.

Here's a cool pic for those braving the Aussie sun...

Wish I was there right now!!!

Darwin and Cairns are in the tropics, so the temperature is fairly stable mid-thirties year round. Adelaide gets so hot in January/February because we get hot northerly winds that have had several thousand miles of desert to heat up and dry out before they hit us, and because it's a lot of very hot, dry air hitting the Southern Ocean, we get some intense summer storms. Adelaide, Perth and Sydney are on roughly the equivalent latitude as Morocco, Southern Spain, Tunisia, Syria, Iran and Iraq, so if you think mediterranean/middle eastern temperatures, you're about right. The difference is Sydney gets humidity from the Pacific, whereas Adelaide gets dry heat from the desert. Canberra and northern NSW are inland, temperate regions in the mountains, and so tend to be much cooler, and of course Tasmania is much further south, with Hobart on the southern end of it.

[stevew2]

Nah, love it here...the smell of the bush....ocean only 5 mins away....temperate climate most of the time....none of that snow and shit.

C'mon Andrew, just rub it in ONE more time about how close you are to the beach!

Ocean & beach 5mins to the South....Bush, walking trails and hills 2 mins to the North

fuck the beach...the smell of bush!

Sum bush,might not smell so good{if ya know what i mean

[Arianddu]

Nah, love it here...the smell of the bush....ocean only 5 mins away....temperate climate most of the time....none of that snow and shit.

C'mon Andrew, just rub it in ONE more time about how close you are to the beach!

Ocean & beach 5mins to the South....Bush, walking trails and hills 2 mins to the North

fuck the beach...the smell of bush!

Sum bush,might not smell so good{if ya know what i mean

Aussie Bush smells of wild honey, eucalyptus and sometimes smoke