So Tasmania is in the news, which is where I am living (see here for links). The stories are about heat and bush fires. So far, nothing as dramatic as "Black Saturday" four years ago has happened, thank goodness, but conditions are very similar.
The post's "featured image" above is of the electronic weather station monitor sitting in my kitchen, taken last Friday. The official Hobart record was set at 41.8 oC, we had a reading of 43.3 oC (33.5 was the inside temperature). I have no idea if this device is well calibrated or subject to some particular siting problem (I tried) or if it really was hotter in our location, but I can vouch for the fact that it was damn hot! We could see the very large smoke plumes of the fires east of Hobart that day, though had not had any news of exactly where it was burning at that time.
We had some renovations done to our place before moving in. The builder and his wife who managed the job live in Dunalley, very nice people. They, as well as their daughter who lived in a neighboring property, have lost everything.
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My condolences to everyone affected by the fires in Tasmania and elsewhere in Australia. They have always been a part of our lives but now they are happening a lot more often and in hotter conditions than ever.
I live in North Eastern Victoria, where in the last 10 years we had more large fires than in the entire 20th century, despite advances in fire-fighting.
You have my sympathy and empathy coby. Damn hot here in Adelaide as well - 45 degrees last week. 41 today, and high 30s and low 40s all this week. Lucky we haven't had any fires yet, but it's probably only a matter of time.
More sympathy from Arizona -- where we know that 45 is hot from experience. We get a few fires from time to time as well, although the big ones are in mountain country where they burn off hundreds of square kilometers of trees instead of grass but best I can tell your range fires are much worse than ours.
Best wishes.
I have no idea if this device is well calibrated or subject to some particular siting problem (I tried) or if it really was hotter in our location
If you live in town, it could well be hotter at your place. Hobart has an airport, so my initial assumption is that the official weather station is located there. Official weather stations are frequently collocated with airports, because pilots have a life-or-death interest in local weather conditions. But the airport is usually some distance outside of town. The urban heat island effect comes into play.
33.5 for an indoor temperature? Yikes. I'm guessing that most houses in Tasmania don't have air conditioning, because it's usually not needed--I'm about as far from the equator as you are (New Hampshire), and most houses around here don't have air conditioning either, for the same reason. And you probably have to keep the windows closed because of the wildfires (people I know who live in parts of the US that are susceptible to wildfires have to do this also, even when they don't have AC). Best wishes that you stay safe, and speedy recovery for those who have lost property.
I travel a lot, and I notice the outside temp on my car's digital gauge goes up 2-3 degrees when I drive through a large town or city.
Lots of stuff holds and generates heat in and around cities.
And just to put the weather in Australia into a little more perspective:
"It’s been a summer like no other in the history of Australia, where a sprawling heat wave of historical proportions is entering its second week. Monday, January 7, was the hottest day in Australian history, averaged over the entire country, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The high temperature averaged over Australia was 105°F (40.3°C), eclipsing the previous record of 104°F (40.2°C) set on 21 December 1972. Never before in 103 years of record keeping has a heat wave this intense, wide-spread, and long-lasting affected Australia. The nation’s average high temperature exceeded 102°F (39°C) for five consecutive days January 2 – 6, 2013–the first time that has happened since record keeping began in 1910. Monday’s temperatures extended that string by another day, to six.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs43a.pdf
Yeah. We're not really very surprised when Oodnadatta or Marla hit the 45C mark for a day or three.
What's so remarkable is the spread. All the hot places being very hot all at once. Anyone for a road trip to Birdsville?