BOM says that this summer is the hottest ever, because it was only 21 degrees cooler than 1896. From January 1-24 1896, maximum temperatures near Bourke averaged 120 degrees, compared to 99 degrees in 2014.
Weather History for Bourke Post Office, #HISTORY.statename | Weather Underground
And now we have perhaps record cold for January, and a Feb 2nd Ice Bowl. This is the strange face of gore-bull warming. I like the pictures at this post that Drudge is linking to as his main story right now: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545153/U-S-braces-coldest-month-century.html
NYT is really good at diversionary tactics. They report on how hot it is somewhere else in the world whenever it gets cold in the US. I am sure they have ordered their reporters to find shaman willing to claim that the extreme cold we are having is because it is warmer somewhere else.
Steve, where did you get your 1896 figures for Bourke?
I have a PDF downloaded from the Bureau of Meteorology for the Bourke Post Office which shows most temps considerably lower than yours.
At first I suspected the BoM might have got the apprentice to convert the old Fahrenheit temps to metric (/SARC) but then I found this;
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/15025008
These temps, reported by the SMH in 1909 are very close to the ones I have.
Isn’t Gundabooka very close to Bourke?
70km south (about 42 miles). Not an official weather station but a sheep/cattle station (you’d say ranch). BoM lists Bourke (airport these days) as the closest official site. Back in the 19th century it probably did report temps/rainfall but I can’t find BoM records. It’s now a national park I gather.
Bourke has always had a reputation for hotness so naturally our BoM ignores the old Post Office recordings when reporting “unprecedented heat wave” conditions and you will only find them by keying the station (as in weather) number 048013 when using the search facility. The Bourke airport records go back only to 1999 so “unprecedented” means “in the last 15 years”.
The official record for Bourke at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_nccObsCode=122&p_stn_num=048013&p_c=-461044248&p_startYear=1896
I wonder if the temperature was the same on this date in 1685?
No mosquito’s on a normal summer day 😉
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/89799.html
Shock news: Sanity returns to the Bureau of Meteorology.
BOM is predicting normal temperature for next 3 months.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/temps_ahead.shtml
“Climate influences
The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) remains neutral, with the majority of atmospheric and oceanic indicators close to their long-term average. Dynamical models surveyed by the Bureau suggest ENSO-neutral conditions are likely to persist at least for the next three months.
Oceans surrounding Australia are also expected to remain close to their 1981-2010 average. Atmospheric pressures may be below average over some southern areas.”
Tropical Cyclone forming off Queensland that will bring a lot of rain.
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDQ20032.html