eyewall Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/09/us-australia-wildfires-maps-idUSBRE90806V20130109 Australia's record-breaking heatwave has sent temperatures soaring, melting road tar and setting off hundreds of wildfires - as well as searing new colors onto weather maps. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has added dark purple and magenta to its color-coded weather forecasting map to represent temperatures of 51 to 54 degrees Celsius (123.8 to 129.2 Fahrenheit), officials said. Temperatures on the map were previously capped at 50 degrees Celsius, represented by the color black. "In order to better understand what temperatures we might see ... we introduced two new colors," said Aaron Coutts-Smith, manager of climate services at the Bureau of Meteorology. Forecast models have predicted a large area of temperatures of over 50 for next Monday, he added.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geos Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Map of new readings above 50°C Link to article: http://www.wired.com/design/2013/01/australia-temperature-map/ Departure from normal Jan 1-6th. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2323 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PottercountyWXobserver Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Insane! I don't care what deniers say, this has AGW written all over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastCoastLow Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 AGW is great and all, but how does it explain that when records are broken, they are records from decades ago? Surely if AGW was relevant to the minute amount of time humans have been recording accurate weather on this planet, we'd see records from only a few years ago being broken, rather than the suggestion of a 30-40 year cycle, as borne out by hard statistics? It also doesn't seem to explain the three VERY mild summers we've had previously. An anomaly is just that. There have been several factors leading to this particular heat event and all of them are common every year by themselves. The late start to the monsoon trough is a major player in it. Anyway, yes it's been hot, but it was also very hot several summers ago. I recall driving home on christmas 2007 and having the tyres flicking up aggregate from the road surface as it failed. Hasn't happened to me so far this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Such intense heat waves occur in Australia every Summer-they are a part of the development of the "Wtt" (monsoon). In fact such events occur in all monsoonal regions with some rather notable temperatures in Asia and the SW US occurring just before the start of the monsoon. AGW therefore can not in any realm of possibility be the cause of the current heat wave. AGW can arguably be stated as a factor in th intnsity but not the cause. About the road surfaces, AZ ran an exhaustive and expnsive test to find a sutibale road surface material capable of standing up to the intense heat. They've had some measure of success. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PottercountyWXobserver Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I'm not arguing about AGW causing the heatwave. But AGW is indeed increasing the intensity of heatwaves worldwide. The probability for +3STD events are increasing in chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluewave Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Hottest day on record for Sydney. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21072347 http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/YSSY/2013/1/18/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phlwx Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Pretty amazing heat spike in Sydney on Friday... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluewave Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Statement issued several days before the Sydney record: Large parts of central and southern Australia are currently under the influence of a persistent and widespread heatwave event. This event is ongoing with further significant records likely to be set. Further updates of this statement and associated significant observations will be made as they occur, and a full and comprehensive report on this significant climatic event will be made when the current event ends. The last four months of 2012 were abnormally hot across Australia, and particularly so for maximum (day-time) temperatures. For September to December (i.e. the last four months of 2012) the average Australian maximum temperature was the highest on record with a national anomaly of +1.61 °C, slightly ahead of the previous record of 1.60 °C set in 2002 (national records go back to 1910). In this context the current heatwave event extends a four month spell of record hot conditions affecting Australia. These hot conditions have been exacerbated by very dry conditions affecting much of Australia since mid 2012 and a delayed start to a weak Australian monsoon. The start of the current heatwave event traces back to late December 2012, and all states and territories have seen unusually hot temperatures with many site records approached or exceeded across southern and central Australia. A full list of records broken at stations with long records (>30 years) is given below. The current heatwave event commenced with a build up of extreme heat in the southwest of Western Australia from 25-30 December 2012 as a high in the Bight and a trough near the west coast directed hot easterly winds over the area. Particularly hot conditions were observed on the 30th, with Cape Naturaliste observing 37.7 °C, its hottest December day in 56 years of record. From 31 December the high pressure system began to shift eastward, bringing well above average temperatures across southern WA between the 30 December and 2 January. Temperatures reached 47.7 °C at Eyre on the 2nd its hottest day in 24 years of record, while Eucla recorded 48.2 °C on the 3rd, its hottest day since records began in 1957. By 4 January the high pressure system had moved off eastern Australia, with northerly winds directing very hot air into southeast Australia, while southerly winds eased temperatures in WA. Hobart experienced a minimum temperature of 23.4 °C on the 4th (its hottest January night on record), followed by a maximum of 41.8 °C (its hottest maximum temperature on record for any month in 130 years of records) and the highest temperature observed anywhere in southern Tasmania. The area of intense heat moved northeast on the 5th as the high pressure system, now centred over the Tasman Sea, and a low pressure trough directed hot northerly winds into the Riverina and western NSW. Areas affected recorded temperatures well in excess of 40 °C, with Marree in SA recording 48.4 °C, Yarrawonga in VIC recording 45.7 °C and Hay in NSW recording 47.7 °C, breaking its annual daytime temperature record. The area of intense heat lingered over eastern SA and the southern half of NSW until 8 January when the high pressure system in the Tasman Sea began to move eastward. On 8 January, north-westerly winds ahead of a cold front extended the influence of the heatwave to the coast of NSW with temperatures reaching 41 °C in Bega, 42.4 °C in Nowra and 42.4 °C at Sydney Observatory Hill. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs43c.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwiz Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 011913-SYD.jpg Pretty amazing heat spike in Sydney on Friday... That is some pretty sick dew point depression! A convective micro/macroburst in that would be pretty epic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salbers Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I'm not arguing about AGW causing the heatwave. But AGW is indeed increasing the intensity of heatwaves worldwide. The probability for +3STD events are increasing in chance. Does this mean we are deviating from a normal (Bell-curved Gaussian) distribution? The way I think of things, the average temperature is rising, so it is now more likely to break high temp records. Also, if drought is increasing as evaporation rates increase and/or the Hadley cells shift, then heat waves can become more intense. Dry soil can heat up faster than moist soil. Overall, the STD itself could be increasing in areas with more droughts. Also note that AGW will have more of a signal over land compared with the ocean due to a shorter response time to radiative forcing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.