The Wednesday hit a record high of 50.7°C on Thursday, January 13, in a remote town in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, the Meteorological Department said.
“New heat record in Western Australia and national temperature record equivalent! », The state Bureau of Meteorology announced on Twitter. Coastal city“Onslow reached unprecedented record: 50.7 °C, a record for Western Australia and it’s the hottest temperature ever recorded in Australia for sixty-two years “. Such temperatures could become commonplace due to global warming, the Australian Climate Council has warned.
On January 2, 1960, the country recorded a temperature of 50.7 °C at odnadatta airport in South Australia, according to the bureau’s website.
Known for its high temperatures and drought, the Pilbara mining region in the northwest recorded this record heat on Thursday, while temperatures traditionally range between 30 °C and 40 °C at this time of year.
“Heat waves kill silently”
Martin Rice, director of the Climate Council, said the record was part of a long-term trend of global warming triggered by the burning of coal, oil and gas.
According to him, this extreme temperature is already “Deadly catastrophic consequences” In Australia. “Heat waves are quietly being killed in Australia, causing more deaths than any other extreme weather event”He said. Australia It experienced an austral summer marked by major forest fires in the west of the country and deadly flooding on its east coast.
Without reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Rice said, these record-breaking heats will become commonplace. “In Sydney and Melbourne, by 2030, we will have 50-degree summer days”, He estimated.