Australia’s southern states are scorching in extreme heat that could break temperature records in Victoria and South Australia on Tuesday.
At Ouyen and Mildura in north-west Victoria, temperatures of 49C were forecast for Tuesday afternoon. If reached, they would break the state’s all-time temperature record of 48.8C, set in Hopetoun on Black Saturday in 2009. By 1pm, temperatures of 46.2C in Ouyen and 44.8C in Mildura had been recorded.
At Ouyen and Mildura in north-west Victoria, temperatures of 49C were forecast for Tuesday afternoon. If reached, they would break the state’s all-time temperature record of 48.8C, set in Hopetoun on Black Saturday in 2009. By 1pm, temperatures of 46.2C in Ouyen and 44.8C in Mildura had been recorded.
In Adelaide, the mercury hit 40C before 9.30am on Tuesday, after overnight lows of 35C, BoM observations showed.
Extreme heat is the most common cause of weather-related hospitalisations in Australia, and kills more people than all other natural hazards combined. What does exposure to extreme heat – such as a temperature of 49C – do to the body?
In Adelaide, the mercury hit 40C before 9.30am on Tuesday, after overnight lows of 35C
There are not enough swear words in my vocabulary to successfully articulate my reaction to that.
40c is 104F, it’s not common but it happens where I live at least a few times a summer.
49c is 120F that wouldnt be fun
My state high happened near where I live in 1934. 118 degrees.
Personally I think the highest I’ve experienced is 112.
The line I was reacting to stated an overnight low of 95. It was 104 by 9:30am. We’ve had stretches where it didn’t dip below 85 (cycle of nightly cloud cover basically acting as a wet blanket) and it was absolutely miserable. A low of 95 is nightmare territory.
I live in corn country. At night and morning the corn swets, and makes the humidity skyrocket can easily make night stay in the high 80s low 90s sometimes
To elaborate on “the corn sweats” for anyone curious, the process is “transpiration” and it’s a significant source of local humidity.
That is nice for those who have been accused of having room temperature IQs in freedom units though.
104 is not terrible as long as you drink water can be in the shade every now and then it’s doable depending on humidity
I agree, I have experienced temperatures up to 45c in Spain and India; not pleasant to be out in the sun, quite survivable once you are used to it.
Min of 35 is absolutely fucked
That’s pretty damn hot. Around 120 F for those imperialists among us.
Dangerously hot, those are “fall and the sidewalk can burn you” temperatures.
It’s not that we’re not imperial, it’s just that we use very logical measuring units.
Speaking as an American mechanical engineer who had to learn both systems… Do we? Do we really? Is multiplying everything by 10 not logical enough for you?
Pretty sure they were saying where they are, outside of the US, is also imperial but uses more logical units of measure (i.e. metric). Double-negative and all that.
Metric is superior for conversions.
Imperial’s basis on body parts makes for highly intuitive human-scale measurements.
I don’t spend all my time converting measurements, I guess. The 10x jump in increments sometimes leaves big gaps in usability. Centimeter level precision isn’t enough for carpentry. But I can’t read my ruler with milimeter precision unless I get out my glasses and turn all the lights on. 1/8ths of an inch are precise enough and easy to see. 🤷♂️
I assume they meant aussies. You know, the country that the article is about, that uses metric, and that celebrated their genocide day yesterday
good soldiers follow fahrenheit
it kind of sucks living in a part of the world that requires you to sit in air conditioned bubbles all day. it’s a fucking depressing way to live.
That is exactly how I felt about Texas.
And I was shocked no one thought to build or market reasonable 3rd spaces.
I always imagined thats why there were so many drunk people out and about. Because the only habitable place outside of homes were bars if you didn’t have a gym membership.
yes. everyone is inside because it’s hot, and everyone is getting drunk because that’s the only thing there is to do, and everyone is driving a car because that’s the only way to get there. if you didn’t drive, then you’re waiting around for the person who drove you, and you’re getting really drunk because they don’t want to leave yet. what a stupid ironic life
Plenty of 3rd spaces exist in Texas. You just have to pay to play. The hyper-capitalist dream is alive in the Lone Star State.
I always imagined thats why there were so many drunk people out and about. Because the only habitable place outside of homes were bars if you didn’t have a gym membership.
I gotta wonder how much of the decline of alcoholism in the subsequent generations boils down to affordability.
Gym memberships are way cheaper than bar tabs.
I lived in Perth for several years and I’ve seen 45 degree heat there. It’s a desert, so it’s dry heat. But that’s hot. Real hot. 49-50 is just insane.
In Texas the hottest day I remember was 46 and that was miserable.
yeah, it was damn near 100% humidity the 46 day i was there. i was moving, too. fucking sucked but i had the joy of knowing it was my last day in texas.
i have no idea how much water i went through, but we moved a tiny studio successfully.
Damn, everything above body heat (37°C) is bad for your body.
It was ‘fun’ at work. We don’t have air con, just big sheds - plenty of ventilation though, it’s not still and not in the sun.
It’s workable, you’ve absolutely got to keep up with hydration, stop for a drink every ~10-15mins, keep the fan on you.
Double Wall 1L+ drink bottle is required, filled half with ice cubes to keep the water frosty.
Can’t imagine how bad it’d be if it was humid.
42-ish here in Belgrave. Current status: finished work, drinking a cold cider, then off to the pool.
Alcohol and coffee being among the drinks to avoid once we get to wet bulb territory.
Then why do Piña Colladas taste so great in hot weather?
Checkmate Atheists
Oh, yeah. Currently low humidity, though.
If he’s in Belgrade, good luck getting him to give up nescafe and rakia.
Alcohol also being a drink to avoid when going to a pool.
49 Celsius = 120.2 Fahrenheit, for the oldies out there.
I came here to ask what that was in ‘Merican.
Halfway between freezing and boiling, the specifics hardly matter at that point.
is that 49 wet bulb or 49 normal?
I guess not as wet bulb 35 already kills humans
Why I feel that business hours during summer season have to be extended at least a couple hours before closing because it is debilitating to even try do anything even under the shade at over 40C. Also, much exercise I have to do during such a season needed to be conducted at night.
Tucson here: June is routinely >40° every day here, but humidity is generally <30%. >60% humidity at that temperature kills if you’re not prepared.
Arizona gets hotter than that. Wimps.
(But seriously that’s really fucking hot)
Pshh, that’s a dry heat. Try that heat with humidity so thick you sleep in a warm puddle because the night offers no relief while feeling like the air is drowning you
i always found all those pathetic arizonans rather amusing. they like to go on and on about how much worse their heat is than anyone else’s, but i’ve done 116 in 100% humidity in texas and 120 with 0% humidity in phoenix. you could barely move in the heat in texas, but if you had to work in it you could get used to it. compared to that phoenix’s heat wave was completely unnoticeable.
but y’know, you always have to have something to hang your identity on, so go whine about everything being hotter in arizona or something.
“Australians are finding out” yeah, we’ve BEEN finding out for as long as i can remember lmao. the hottest we’ve logged the factory i work in was 56 degrees (that was when outside was ~48)
