Australia breaks weather records with hottest ever summer, 50 degree days and more heatwaves to come
- In January alone, Adelaide broke its all-time heat record with a 46.6 degree day, Port Augusta broke its record with 48.9 degrees, and then broke it again with 49.5 degrees a week later
Australia has endured its hottest summer ever, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, breaking the previous record set six years ago.
The 2018-19 summer, which produced near 50 degree Celsius days and topped temperature highs across the country, has officially exceeded the previous record set in 2012-13, which was 1.28 degrees above what is considered normal. Climate analysts say it falls into a pattern of human-induced global warming.
January alone had already been confirmed as the hottest month ever recorded in Australia, with a mean temperature across the nation of 30.8 degrees, which was 2.9 degrees above the average for January temperatures (calculated between 1961–1990) of 27.9 degrees.
On Thursday, the BoM revealed the whole season was officially the hottest ever recorded.
While exact figures are not yet confirmed, the bureau said this summer’s mean temperature was at least 2 degrees above the 27.5 degrees benchmark of what is considered normal, based on 1961-1990.