Official Australian Weather Map Gets New Colors To Depict Extreme Heat

Record-breaking temperatures require a meteorological redesign.

By Shaunacy Ferro Posted 01.08.2013 at 2:29 pm 10 Comments

Hot Hot Heat Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Off The Charts: Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

It's going to be a rough week in Australia, where the weather service had to add new colors to their climate map in preparation for an extreme heat forecast. The Bureau of Meteorology recently added pink and purple areas to its maps to make room for higher temperatures.

On the map issued for next Monday, Central Australia gets the dubious distinction of being the first region shown in purple, meaning temperatures are likely to rise above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). This last Monday was the country's hottest day on record nationwide, with average maximum temperatures around the country of 40.33 degrees, and officials expect more to come. The new pink code is reserved for temperatures from 52 to 54 degrees Celsius, more than 125 degrees Fahreinheit.

Australia's all-time record for highest temperature, set in 1960 in Oodnadatta, still hasn't been broken, but this year's heat has been uniquely widespread and intense. Between the heat and the dry vegetation conditions, conditions are ripe for wildfires, which have broken out in multiple states, and Prime Minister Julia Gillard warned yesterday that global warming will mean even more extreme weather events.

[AFP]

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10 Comments

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StoStatus

01/08/13 at 2:40 pm

That sounds like a pool day with some SPF 2500 to me. I'm Looking at about 6 inches of snow in Ohio.

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Robot

01/08/13 at 2:55 pm

54C to 129.2F.

Some meats can safely be cooked at 129 F. I hate to be an animal, walking across the plains in that area!

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fletch

01/08/13 at 3:22 pm

Oh come on Popsci, stop being lazy! If you're going to mention that Australia's all time high temperature hasn't been broken at least include the all time record as a reference.. This time only I will do your job for you.
it was 50.7 °C (123.3 °F).

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Handthumb

01/08/13 at 4:05 pm

I think the Australians are training for a mission to the sun. I could not even begin to imagine what 122°F feels like.

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ppardee

01/08/13 at 4:58 pm

@Handthumb: It isn't as bad as you'd think. As long as it's not really humid and you're not trying to exercise, sweating does it's job really well. I was out and about when it hit 122°F in Phoenix in 1990 and it didn't feel any different than 115°. Bullhead City in north-western Arizona has a record of 132°F set back in 1983 and the temperature there regularly runs in the 120s in the summer.

I'm not saying it's not dangerous, but if you're able to find water and shade, it's just a matter of repeating "I'm so going to be laughing at people in cold country in 6 months when it's 70° here and -30° there."

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zerox012

01/08/13 at 5:52 pm

I wonder what people (and animals) will do when temperatures reach 80 degree celsius and more...

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Jellybelly

01/09/13 at 6:56 am

zerox012: die of course

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Robot

01/09/13 at 9:20 am

Suppose you knew in advance you country would become hotter and more a waste land, dead desert.

It maybe ok to say to the "local environmentalists" that wish to preserve things naturally as they are, it's time to adapt to a change environment; we are all going to die.

Then decide as a country to plant as much vegetation as much as possible, bushes, trees, grasses, anything that grows, animals too, in an effort to fight the up and coming DOOM.

A large enough of vegetation does create its own rainy cycle system!

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polycarbonated

01/09/13 at 12:42 pm

Vegetation causes "rainy cycle system"? I've seen people mistake correlation with causation plenty, but assuming an obviously reversed causation is really special.

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Robot

01/09/13 at 1:02 pm

RAIN FOREST, ever hear of it.