By I. Hansana, Jadetimes News
Australia has recorded its highest winter temperature on record, with Yampi Sound in Western Australia’s Kimberley region reaching 41.6°C on Tuesday. This new record, provisionally confirmed by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), surpasses the previous national winter high of 41.2°C, set at West Roebuck on August 23, 2020. The BoM is expected to officially confirm the record shortly, marking this as the hottest temperature ever recorded in any winter month across Australia.
The unprecedented heat wave is impacting vast regions of the country, with temperature records being broken in Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and New South Wales. This extreme weather event is driven by what meteorologists are calling an "unseasonal burst" of sustained heat.
Significant records include Oodnadatta in South Australia, which reached 39.4°C, Yulara in the Northern Territory at 36°C, and multiple locations in Western Australia Fitzroy Crossing, Derby, and Wyndham where temperatures exceeded 40°C. Birdsville in Queensland also set a new August record, hitting 38.4°C.
Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist, reported that large parts of Queensland and New South Wales are experiencing temperatures well above average for this time of year, with central Australia enduring heat up to 15°C above normal. "We’ve seen really warm weather around central and eastern parts of Australia," Hines noted. "What’s really interesting about this warm stretch of weather is it is going to last for a long time."
Brisbane recorded 31°C on Monday, with temperatures expected to rise to 34°C by the weekend. Sydney also experienced unseasonably warm weather, reaching 24°C on Monday, with forecasts suggesting temperatures could climb to 29°C by Friday 11°C above the average for August.
Western Australia is among the states hardest hit by the heatwave, with Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region recording 40.6°C on Monday. This marks only the third time that temperatures in the 40s have been recorded in the state during winter.
Hines emphasized that while temperatures might not continue breaking records after this week, the warmth is expected to persist. "We may still get a couple of little bursts of cool weather over the next month or two, but generally speaking, it is going to start to feel more and more spring like," he said.
In addition to the extreme heat, southeastern Australia is facing damaging winds. The BoM has issued severe weather warnings for parts of Victoria and Tasmania, with very strong winds expected to impact these areas early this week. "We’ve got broad warnings in place from the far south of the state right through to the far north," Hines explained, highlighting the widespread impact of these conditions across Tasmania and Victoria.
