1896 : Hundreds Dead From The Heat In Sydney

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14033928

About Tony Heller

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36 Responses to 1896 : Hundreds Dead From The Heat In Sydney

  1. Ill wind blowing says:

    It’s elementary, my dear Watson. IT’S CALLED LACK OF AIR CONDITIONING!

    Not that you’ve bothered to give the actual temperatures, let alone compare them with any systematic temperature chart of Australia since the last 115 years. Even if you did, it is the GLOBAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURES that count, not these pathetic pseudo-scientific anecdotes that you fill your website with.

    By the way, Sea Ice Area is dropping like a stone. Seems like it will pass the 2007 level in just a few days. 🙂

    http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.area.arctic.png

    Start booking your NW Passage cruise now, before it opens up in a couple of weeks. 🙂

    http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/NEWIMAGES/arctic.seaice.color.000.png

    • Place your bets on a record low. I recommend you bet the farm

      • Peter Ellis says:

        Ten days ago, you said “I think the next ten days will be slow. After that I have no idea.”
        http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/dmi-forecast-for-tomorrow/#comment-76800

        Please can we have one of your overlay graphs so we can check? I can’t quite tell from the DMI / IJIS / Cryosphere Today graphs whether it’s very slow, merely slow-ish, or the fastest decline in the satellite record for the time of year. I’m sure a pixelated Photoshop job would help us all. And don’t forget to update us on how well we’re tracking 2006, as we leave the 2006 minimum extent in the dust behind us!

      • Dear Peter Ellis,

        Then you shouldn’t be at all bothered to bet a rather large sum of cash on a record low, right?

      • Peter Ellis says:

        Nope, I’d say the chance of a new low is about 50%, much as I’ve said all season. It’ll be very weather dependent. We seem to be set quite warm for the next week or so, so I expect 2011 will catch up to 2007 (or nearly) by the end of the month, but after that it’ll depend how the weather changes. Ice today is generally weaker than in late 2007, so other things being equal I’d expect 2011 to go on melting for longer, with the minimum this year being at least as late as last year.

      • Ill wind blowing says:

        I’m sorry Steve. I totally forgot that Concentration images and Ice Extent charts are part of the Grand Global Communist/Illuminati/Reptilian conspiracy to rob us of our precious bodily fluids. 🙂

      • Ill wind blowing says:

        Peter Ellis says:
        August 14, 2011 at 11:46 pm

        “Please can we have one of your overlay graphs so we can check? I can’t quite tell from the DMI / IJIS / Cryosphere Today graphs whether it’s very slow, merely slow-ish, or the fastest decline in the satellite record for the time of year. I’m sure a pixelated Photoshop job would help us all. And don’t forget to update us on how well we’re tracking 2006, . . .”

        Peter:

        http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/64/64811755.gif

    • Ivan says:

      Not that you’ve bothered to give the actual temperatures
      Being a newspaper, it shouldn’t be all that hard to find:
      METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS.
      Observatory, Monday [13 January 1896]
      Temperature: Maximum, 108.5 ; Minimum 76.8.
      http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14033251
      The day before that, it was a max. of 98.2.
      That scientific enough?

  2. Ill wind blowing says:

    My commentary is in moderation hell. One more time.

    It’s elementary, my dear Watson. IT’S CALLED LACK OF AIR CONDITIONING!

    Not that anyone’s bothered to give the actual temperatures, let alone compare them with any systematic temperature chart of Australia since the last 115 years. Even then, it is the GLOBAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURES that count, not these pathetic pseudo-scientific anecdotes that this website is filled with.

    • Mike Davis says:

      IWB:
      I lived in the desert for over 50 years. I did not have refrigeration / (Air Conditioning) in a residence until the mid 80s. I used evaporative cooling which lowered the temperature by about 20F. We counted the days over 105 and over 110 was not uncommon. While a youngster I played during the hottest part of the day as it was cooler outside than in my parents bakery where the oven was going along with other heat generating devices.
      Actually global average temperatures are garbage and worthless for anything. By averaging “Global” temperatures all the weather signals are lost and the only haistory that could be used for comparison would be recently well populated monitoring sites or which there is not a long enough history to recognize any climate pattern!
      It is called: you are living in a fantasy world!

      • Ill wind blowing says:

        Mike; this is my fantasy world:

        I’ve been living in a semi-desert for 30 years. I had an evaporative swamp cooler which used to work fine but my location, as well as most of the Earth, had been getting more humid with each passing decade (I wonders why?).Swamp coolers don’t work in higher humidity.

        After my air conditioner gave up the ghost, I did not bother to replace it. One fine summer day the temperatures exceeded 110F for several days. A fan doesn’t do diddley at temps above 100. Also, the nights did not drop below the mid 90s. That’s the real killer; unless you want to sleep in the bathtub and wake up every half hour to drain the warmed up water and refill it.

        So I placed a 2.5 gallon bucket of water in my chest freezer. Took it out the next morning. It had a thin glaze of ice. I punched through the ice, dunked a tight fitting T-shirt in it and then wore it. After 10 minutes, rinse-repeat.

        Night time required soaking an entire bed sheet. Only then did a small fan have any effect.

        “Actually global average temperatures are garbage and worthless for anything. By averaging “Global” temperatures all the weather signals are lost and the only haistory that could be used for comparison would be recently well populated monitoring sites or which there is not a long enough history to recognize any climate pattern!”

        You obviously haven’t heard of science. How is it that we know the general temperatures from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of years ago? Ice core analysis, Geochemistry etc. Or are these methods part of some grand Socialistic conspiracy?

      • Me says:

        Ill wind tooting, you need to stop shopping at the junk yard. and this.
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UCv9AisQrg

  3. Mike Davis says:

    IWB:
    Increased humidity in arid regions have nothing to do with global warming. Increased humidity has everything to do with land changes. Agriculture and landscaping along with water features increase humidity. Increased humidity lowers overall temperature and changes how the region warms during the day.
    If after 30 years in a semi arid region you do not know how to keep cool during the Summer you are a lost cause and a pathetic excuse for a human.
    Actually we know approximate regional temperatures from regions where samples were studied and that information has been foolishly been extrapolated to a global something. Due to anti phasing between regions at times some of the records cancel each other out or over exaggerate minor events due to lack of enough samples. Weather and climate are regional and until they have a handle on regional conditions they are spinning their wheels tackling global conditions. They would accomplish more by banging their heads against a brick wall!
    To know how a forest grows you observe trees. You do not place random unverified numbers into a computer and model a forest.

    • Ill wind blowing says:

      Mike Davis:

      “If after 30 years in a semi arid region you do not know how to keep cool during the Summer you are a lost cause and a pathetic excuse for a human.”

      What is pathetic is your name calling.

      Would you like to tell me what exactly is pathetic about the specific actions that I took to keep cool? Perhaps you’d like to share your ideas about keeping cool? Even if your ideas are better than mine that doesn’t make my ideas “pathetic”.

      There could be a variety of ways to keep cool. Some may be more useful than others or their usefulness could depend on specific circumstances.

      What is more pathetic is the fact that you have called millions of people pathetic, apparently because they too don’t know your secrets (You never stated how you adapt).

      Take a close look at whom you’ve really slandered. 10 million+ people in my area. Many would not even come up with the idea I mentioned (Unless they spend a few days without A/C. The most I’ve seen people do is to take a lot of showers or eat frozen grapes.

      What I said still has merit but if you think otherwise please share your majestic wisdom.

      PS: I live in California where the humidity has been getting higher and there have been no changes of the kind that you’ve mentioned since I started living here.

      PPS: I’ve been told that supplying cold water to a swamp cooler improves it’s performance. By the time I heard that I no longer had a swamp cooler nor any place to attach one to in my apartment.

  4. Mike Davis says:

    IWB:
    You made a false statement when you claimed that “most of the earth is getting more humid”. There are regions that have experienced increased humidity and there are regions that have experienced decreased humidity but that is only providing evidence of variable regional weather patterns. I do have to include the human aspect of introducing water features and landscape changes which increases regional humidity.
    In the thirties they built lakes all over East Tennessee and dramatically changed the humidity along with the weather patterns / climate. HICC that has nothing to do with CO2! Last I looked the temperatures were either flat over the entire period of record keeping of trending down.

    Properly used Swamp Coolers can be used with high humidity! I know, I have done it!

  5. Ill wind blowing says:

    Me: It seems that intestinal gas is the only thing you project.

  6. suyts says:

    Ill wind blowing says:
    August 14, 2011 at 10:31 pm

    It’s elementary, my dear Watson. IT’S CALLED LACK OF AIR CONDITIONING!

    Not that you’ve bothered to give the actual temperatures, let alone compare them with any systematic temperature chart of Australia since the last 115 years. Even if you did, it is the GLOBAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURES that count, not these pathetic pseudo-scientific anecdotes that you fill your website with.
    =========================================================
    Have you considered the consequences of driving electric rates so high that many won’t be able to afford running their air conditioning? We’re already there in the electric company I work at. The poor can’t run their AC’s because they can’t afford it. Isn’t that wonderful? All of the technological advancements of mankind, serving to lessen mortality and morbidity worldwide….. all gone to sh1t because of some dystopian view of the future.

  7. Ill wind blowing says:

    Suyts:

    Your statement is a red herring that does not answer the statement you quoted.

    I stated that it was the lack of air conditioning a 115 years ago that predisposed the afflicted area to having a greater mortality rate.

    What you mentioned is a totally different topic.

    • Jimash says:

      “I stated that it was the lack of air conditioning a 115 years ago that predisposed the afflicted area to having a greater mortality rate.”

      Yes you said that twice. Stunningly stupid both times.
      Not any more clever in the least, the third time.

    • suyts says:

      No Ill, I was just advancing the discussion. You say the lack of air-conditioners would be a cause of the mortality in the instance Steve has shown. Perhaps, and probably true to a point. But I state, that recent events in efforts to make sure our climate isn’t worse than the example, would cause us to be back in the same spot. If we lose the ability to use the technologies that helped us overcome the past difficulties, what meaning or relevance does it have to bring it up? Or, do you acknowledge that humanity is better off now, because of our A/C use than then? And, to revert back to days without A/C use would lend to catastrophes such as Steve’s example?

      • Ill wind blowing says:

        Peoples’ idea of what constitutes technological advancement is both simplistic and ignorant of past accomplishments. For instance, there used to be adobe structures in ancient Iran which were designed to keep the residents cool in the midst of 100F heat.

        They had a wind tunnel built into their house that would direct the hot air over a shallow pool of water and into the house. Their walls were also thick, which moderated the heat. It kept the interior cool in the daytime, before the heat could reach inside. During the cool nights, it would release its warmth.

        There are a hundred and one different ways of doing things that require no fossil fuel burning. Some petroleum to make plastics and medicines but hardly any combustion.

  8. Ivan says:

    More pathetic pseudo-scientific anecdotes, this time from Melbourne twenty years earlier:
    MORTALITY IN MELBOURNE.
    The unprecedented heat that was experienced during five days of last week must have caused a rate of mortality greater than has been experienced in Melbourne and the suburbs previously. The deaths registered during the week ending 17th January, 1874, were 112, and the corresponding week this year they had increased to 153. For the week ending 24th January, 1874, they were 113.”
    ~28 Jan 1875
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/61909672?

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