 |
Maximum (above) and minimum (below) temperature
departures from normal today. BoM  |
 |
| Below, the surface chart for 10am shows the
broad area of moderately strong pressure gradient from southern QLD and
NT to VIC. BoM |
 |
Century-old temperature records were swept away today as
early season heat covered NSW and large parts of VIC, SA, NT and QLD. NSW,
SA and VIC set new state records for September maximum temperatures.
New records
were set at dozens of weather stations across the five
states (see records below), while in NSW
over half a dozen locations broke the old NSW September temperature record
of 38.8C. Both
White
Cliffs
and Menindee hold
the new record
of 39.5. Top temperatures in western NSW were 16 or 17 above the September
norm.
In VIC, Mildura's top of 37.4 comfortably exceeded the previous Victorian
September record of 35.6 held by Mildura, Merbein and Ouyen. In SA, Moomba's
maximum of 41.4 broke the old state 40.5 record held by Oodnadatta. QLD only
just missed out, with Birdsville's 42.4 0.2 degrees shy
of the
current state record. Many long-period records fell. At Broken Hill,
the new record of 37.2C is 2.8 hotter than any September day in the past 89
years. Lake Victoria, Menindee, Brewarrina, Balranald, Ivanhoe, Coonamble,
Nyngan, Baradine, Alice Springs and Mildura are other locations with between
50 and 90 years of computerised records which saw old records broken, often
by considerable margins, today. Stations in SW QLD, NE SA and southern NT reported maxima between 41 and 42.4
at Birdsville.
A narrow band of heat has been working its way across the continent over the
past couple of days. Temperatures in SE WA and western SA were 12 to 16 above
normal on Saturday, while western NSW and SW QLD were 12 to 14 above yesterday
with Tibooburra's top of 38.7 breaking its 47-year record by 1.5 degrees. Its
new record was short-lived, being broken again today with a top of 39.3. Today's weather map, however, shows an unusually broad northwesterly stream
covering the east of the continent. The pressure gradient between the trough
near Adelaide and a strong ridge up the QLD coast is about 30hPa, not exceptionally
great but evenly distributed. It was strong enough to generate average winds
of 40 to 80km/h over the whole area (see Gusts & Gales below)
and sweep to the southeast heat which has been accumulating over a broad
area of Central Australia because recent troughs have been too weak to flush
it out.
The combination of early-season heat and strong dry winds is bad news for
those on the land, who face rapid drying off of pastures and crops after last
month's useful rain. In northwest VIC, wind which gusted as high as 93km/h
at Walpeup, brought down trees and powerlines and unroofed several
houses. The areas worst affected were Swan Hill, Kerang and Mildura. Raised
dust and dust storms contributed to the discomfort of those in NW VIC, western
NSW
and
SW QLD,
with the visibility
reduced to
half
a
kilometre at Broken Hill at 3pm.
Full details of all exceptional minimum and maximum temperatures for today
are given on today's Noteworthy
Weather report. Sources: BoM, Cobar Age, ABC, SMH |
