More From Australia’s Hellishly Hot Past

January of 1896 was the hottest month in Australia’s history, with many consecutive days over 120 degrees at Gundabooka – near Bourke.  Mark Twain joked that it was very close to hell.

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TimesMachine: August 18, 1896 – NYTimes.com

Summer temperatures in Bourke have plummeted since the 1870’s.

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During the year 1900, nearly one day out of four in Bourke reached 100 degrees. The frequency of 100 degree days has decreased by two thirds.

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About Tony Heller

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16 Responses to More From Australia’s Hellishly Hot Past

  1. Andy Oz says:

    2 days 129 F
    2 days 128 F
    All exceed BOM “official” record for Australian temperature.
    The BOM must have Alzheimer’s disease or they’ve been doing some book burning.

    • Gail Combs says:

      Book Burning — LITERALLY!

      Jo Nova: Hiding something? BOM throws out Bourke’s hot historic data, changes long cooling trend to warming

      Hello Soviet style weather service? On January 3, 1909, an extremely hot 51.7C (125F) was recorded at Bourke. It’s possibly the hottest ever temperature recorded in a Stevenson Screen in Australia, but the BOM has removed it as a clerical error. There are legitimate questions about the accuracy of records done so long ago — standards were different. But there are very legitimate questions about the BOMs treatment of this historic data. ‘The BOM has also removed the 40 years of weather recorded before 1910, which includes some very hot times. Now we find out the handwritten original notes from 62 years of the mid 20th Century were supposed to be dumped in 1996 as well. Luckily, these historic documents were saved from the dustbin and quietly kept in private hands instead.….

      These people really need to be drawn and quartered the clasic treatment for what they are doing.

  2. Eliza says:

    OT but I wonder if Arctic Ice extent is actually turning now (melt is over). If this is the case, it is likely to rebound extraordinarily forthe rest of the year and likely to go above anomaly. AGW=CHAO
    http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover.uk.php

  3. philjourdan says:

    I will make a prediction. Australia will never hit the 100s again as long as the sun does not go Red or Nova. 😉

    • Jon Lonergan says:

      You can’t be an Australian surely?
      Wikipedia
      Australia 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) Oodnadatta, South Australia 2 January 1960.
      I grew up with that sort of temperature. Be patient it will return.

      • philjourdan says:

        Sarcasm is often subtle, that is why there is a winky after the comment. Also, Australia use to be on the Fahrenheit system, but is now on the Celsius. As such, while their translated temperature may read over 100 in the old system, it will never read over 100 under the new system. The temperature you quoted is half of that. As their official temperature is Celsius not Fahrenheit.

  4. Gary H says:

    From Answers.com (probably a better source than most of the media – LOL):

    Whilst it is probable that remote areas of the Australian desert have seen extreme temperatures that have gone unrecorded, the outback Queensland town of Cloncurry originally held the record for the highest known temperature in the shade, at 53.1 °C (127.5 °F) on 16 January 1889. Cloncurry is a small town in northwest Queensland, Australia, about 770km west of Townsville.

    The Cloncurry record was later removed from Australian records because it was measured using unsuitable equipment (that is, not in a Stevenson screen, which only became widespread in Australian usage after about 1910). According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the current heat record is held by Oodnadatta, South Australia, 50.7 degrees Celsius, occurring on 2 January 1960.

    The world heat record for consecutive days goes to Marble Bar in Western Australia, which recorded maximum temperatures equaling or over 37.8°C on 161 consecutive days, between 30 October 1923 and 7 April 1924.

  5. Toppelton Geardom says:

    I enjoyed reading Mark Twain’s comment from the newspaper. 🙂 Whether old-timey Hell or modern climate Hell, we humans just can’t seem to get away from trying to manipulate others with our innate fear of fire. What hath Prometheus wrought?

  6. Gail Combs says:

    Ice Age Now has a new hot off the press thread Australian weather bureau admits to ‘homogenising’ temperature records

    But a feature (page 20) and a news piece (page 9) in The Weekend Australia things have changed that mistaken belief forever, says Marohasy.

    “As many skeptics have known for a long time, while the raw data may show a pause, or even cooling, the truncated and homogenized data often shows dramatic warming.”

    According to Marohasy, the Bureau has not disputed these calculations.

    “This is significant,” says Marohasy. The Bureau now admits that it changes the temperature series and quite dramatically through the process of homogenisation.”

    She repeats: “The Bureau has not disputed the figures. The Bureau admits that the data is remodelled.”

    • The Bureau admits that the data is remodelled.

      Stand up guys. I’ve always had a soft spot for honest crooks. The Democrat Machine never admitted that the 1960 presidential election results were homogenized and remodelled.

  7. rah says:

    Hell, why the heck do people think the country, as far as western civilization is concerned, started as a penal colony? Do they really think that the Brits were sending their criminals to an island paradise?

  8. AndyG55 says:

    “Do they really think that the Brits were sending their criminals to an island paradise?”

    Turned out that way, didn’t it 🙂

    Heck of a lot warmer and nicer than the UK climate, that’s for sure … except now in Newcastle. 🙁

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