McKitten Goes Down Under

ScreenHunter_376 Jan. 04 07.57

Twitter / billmckibben: Australia likely to have the …

When Australia was having record cold a few weeks ago, McKibben wasn’t interested. But now that the US has turned cold and snowy, Bill has gone south – like Kathy Griffin on New Year’s Eve.

The hottest day in Australia was January 16, 1889 when the temperature hit 128F. The chances of that record being beaten are close to zero.

NCDC: Global Measured Extremes of Temperature and Precipitation

h/t to Marc Morano

About Tony Heller

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41 Responses to McKitten Goes Down Under

  1. omnologos says:

    BREAKING: it’s hot in summertime.

  2. kirkmyers says:

    I’m still trying to figure out McKibben. Is he a publicity hound or is he just plain stupid? I suspect it’s the former. He loves the media attention, and the best way to grab a headline is to make outrageous statements about an impending global warming (aka “climate change”) catastrophe. I find it hard to fathom that he actually believes the swill he’s dishing out to the media.

  3. Sundance says:

    Griffin is barely more attractive than a real ugly looking man so it is likely that many gay and straight men gagged or puked at the thought of Griffin giving them lip service. 🙂

  4. Andy DC says:

    McKibben’s beginning of history is probably 2005.

  5. Ian says:

    The record which McKibben is quoting is the average max temp for all Australian weather stations on a particular day. It is based on records only going back to 1950. Time will tell if it is a worse heatwave than 1908 or 1939. A particularly nasty heatwave occurred in 2009 so these events are not unusual.
    I wonder if McKibben tweeted that Australia had its coldest autumn on record in 2011 when that happened.
    http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs33.pdf

  6. Andy DC says:

    At this very moment, McKibben is probably searching all over the Australian Outback for a thermometer with a torch under it.

  7. Ivan says:

    ABNORMAL HEAT.
    NEW SOUTH WALES AND QUEENSLAND.
    SHADE TEMPERATURE, 123 DEGREES.
    ~4 Jan 1903
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4912606

  8. Ivan says:

    THE EASTERN HEAT WAVE.
    FURTHER REMARKABLY HIGH TEMPERATURES.
    122 DEGREES IN THE SHADE AT CONDOBOLIN.
    ~1 Jan 1905
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/25370748

  9. Ivan says:

    A few earlier heat-wave records, from 9 consecutive days over 100F (1858) through to 5 consecutive days over 100F (8 separate years)
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/56666543
    ~14 Jan 1905

  10. Ivan says:

    AT MILDURA.
    ANOTHER SCORCHING DAY.
    SHADE READING 124 DEGREES.
    ~6 Jan 1906
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/90693248

  11. Ivan says:

    HEAT IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
    123 DEGREES RECORDED.
    ~ 3 Jan 1909
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/26217497

  12. Ivan says:

    “Gawler Town, which is generally considered somewhat hotter than Adelaide, reports 123 degrees in the shade;”
    ~24 Jan 1860
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/5695912

  13. Ivan says:

    “From 18th December to 9th January, the thermometer stood at between 105 deg and 123 deg in the shade. On fifteen of these days it was between 110 deg and 123 deg.”
    ~17 Feb 1869
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1318829

  14. Ivan says:

    “On Sunday last the thermometer in the shade was 123 deg.”
    ~9 Dec 1873
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/92765111

  15. Ivan says:

    “The heat for the last month has been intense, the thermometer ranging from 118 deg. 123 deg. in the shade. ”
    ~7 April 1880
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/51986745

  16. Andy DC says:

    So how hot did it get in Aussieland today?

  17. ntesdorf says:

    North Pole is an ironically named locality nearby to Mable Bar Western Australia (21° 05′ S. 119° 22′ E.) Marble Bar set a world record of most consecutive days of maximum temperatures of 37.8 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) or more, during a period of 160 such days from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924. During December and January, temperatures in excess of 45 °C (113 °F) are common, and the average maximum temperature exceeds normal human body temperature for 6 months each year.

    It’s just amazing how excited the Warmistas become when winter ends and the summer begins each year.

  18. Ivan says:

    “At Kelly’s Gamp, outside of Bourke, on Sunday the record was 123deg. in the shade.”
    ~26 Jan 1895
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/21628565

  19. Ivan says:

    “The heat is intense. At Bourke the thermometer stood at 125deg. in the shade.”
    ~18 Jan 1877
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/5913637

  20. Andy DC says:

    Checked Weather Underground. It would appear the warmest in Australia on 1/5/13 was 118.

  21. Ivan says:

    EXCESSIVE HEAT.
    REPORTS FROM SOUTHERN COLONIES.
    125DEG. IN THE SHADE AT
    GERALTON, W.A.
    ~8 Jan 1896
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/82146423

  22. Ivan says:

    “The Drought.
    Terrible State of Things in the West.
    At the latter end of last month and the beginning of this month the thermometer in the shade of a Birdsville store has registered from 116 to 125deg.”
    ~23 Dec 1899
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/82146067

  23. Ivan says:

    “HEAT IN QUEENSLAND.
    BRISBANE, December 16.
    Terrible heat has been reported from the inland stations during the past few days. At Isisford on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the thermometer registered 120 deg. in the shade, and to-day it rose to 123 deg. At Longreach 125 deg. was registered.”
    ~17 Dec 1901
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/55668266

  24. Ivan says:

    “HEAT WAVE AND BUSH FIRES.
    ENORMOUS DAMAGE.
    At Berrigan (N.S.W.) the thermometer registered 125 deg. in the shade.”
    ~6 Jan 1905
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/72836296

  25. Ivan says:

    “GOYDERS’ LAGOON.
    January 28. — During the past fortnight the heat has fluctuated between 120 and 125 deg. in the shade.”
    ~10 Feb 1906
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/88111935

  26. Meanwhile next door it snowed in summer in New Zealand. That goes largely unobserved…

  27. trucker bob says:

    It is as if history is being erased. For all that we hear about recent record-breaking climate extremes, records that are equally extreme, and sometimes even more so, are ignored.

    In January 1896 a savage blast “like a furnace” stretched across Australia from east to west and lasted for weeks. The death toll reached 437 people in the eastern states. Newspaper reports showed that in Bourke the heat approached 120°F (48.9°C) on three days (1)(2)(3). It stayed above 100 degrees F (38.8°C) for 24 days straight.

    http://joannenova.com.au/2012/11/extreme-heat-in-1896-panic-stricken-people-fled-the-outback-on-special-trains-as-hundreds-die/

  28. Ivan says:

    HEAT WAVE IN NEW SOUTH WALES,
    VERY HIGH TEMPERATURES.
    Sydney, January 4.
    The severity of the heat wave is shown by the official returns of the temperatures for the 48 hours ended at 9 o’clock this morning. In some instances the records were the highest for 30 years. The following shade temperatures were recorded:-Bourke, 125deg.;”
    ~5 Jan 1909
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/26217577

  29. Ivan says:

    “HEAT KILLS BIRDS.
    125 DEGREES IN THE SHADE.
    KANGAROOS OVERCOME.
    WINTON (Q.), Monday. – The heat last week in the surrounding country was terrific, ranging from 120deg. to 125deg, in the shade.”
    ~ 9 Dec 1913
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/7231808

  30. Ivan says:

    “At White Hill station, 12 miles out from Minginew, 125deg. were registered on January 29, which is thought to be a record for the district.”
    ~17 Feb 1921
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/37477499

  31. Ivan says:

    Interesting…
    “The highest temperature ever recorded under a Stevenson screen in Western Australia was 123.2 at Eucla in 1906.”
    ~25 July 1934
    http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/32950587

  32. Ian says:

    Ivan,
    The BOM (Aust) rarely recognise any higher temps prior to 1910 and very few from then to 1950. Just see what they have done to Bourke for 4th Jan, 1909.
    http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/avp_nccObsCode=122&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_startYear=1909&p_c=-461043076&p_stn_num=048013
    They also adjusted Cloncurry’s record and Mildura’s 1906 record down.
    This allows them to make these statements using a cooling period (ie 1950s) to start the ‘official record’.

  33. Ian says:

    Ivan
    Thanks for the link. Will read later as I have noticed the differences between the raw data, especially prior to 1950, and the HQ data site. Most of the higher yearly max means have been adjusted down by up to 0.7C.
    Andy, they do change the data.
    For example, raw data has Lismore in 1915 had a max mean of 27.4C.
    http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsCode=36&p_display_type=dataFile&p_startYear=&p_c=&p_stn_num=058037

    But the HQ climate data site has Lismore in 1915 at 26.7C.
    http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/climate/hqsites/site_data.cgi?period=annual&variable=maxT&station=058037
    Lismore would have been a major station so should have had a Stevenson Shield in 1915 (most were rolled out in 1910).

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