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In popular culture, the outback of Australia is said to be extremely hot. Although many localities away from the coast average very high temps in the summer, Marble Bar appears to be the only one that has an average of over 40C in a summer month. Wyndham, Australia is the closest I know of at 39.4C but that's about it. The vast majority of outback localities seem to max out at 38C. So does anybody know of other Aussie locations that go above 40C or is Marble Bar the only one?
Another point: As such, the outback isn't that unique in the world. In fact, many other regions average a bit or a lot higher, such as the Sahara, US deserts, the Middle East, South Asia, etc.
The reason the US deserts get so hot is they are in valleys and some of those are below sea level (for instance Death Valley).
I understand the Sahara Desert as it is so far from the coasts to the center of the desert so virtually impossible for precipitation to get there, but the Middle East has always puzzled me. With the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Persian Gulf it would seem that there would be extremely high evaporation and a tendency for thunderstorms but the high pressure cell is so strong it inhibits it, even though I've heard the humidity can get high in Dubai but it never rains from it. The SE tip of the Arabian peninsula can occasionally get monsoons from India but it's only a narrow strip about 10 miles wide in the SE corner of Oman and it only lasts a couple of weeks.
That folklore you refer to is, in fact, a stark reminder to the extremely hot past of the Australian climate; Australian summers used to be substantially hotter and more extreme than they are today. A few lessons on its history, if I may:
During the record El Nino of 1877-1878, many stations in NSW registered at or above 50° C (official BOM stations) during the prodigious heatwave(s) of January 1878; too, a world-wide drought had stricken. Following that El Nino, was the most severe drought in Australian history—the Federation Drought, spanning from 1895 to 1903, bringing yet another round of unrelenting heat. The ~50° C readings in 1878 almost extended below the subtropics into the temperate zone, at Deniliquin in South-Western NSW (35.5° S); whereby 49.6° C was reached.
Long before the Stevenson Screen, in 1828, Charles Sturt had recorded 53.9° C on his shaded thermometer during his expeditions in Central-Western NSW...before the thermometer eventually exploded. Although I do not hold this particular piece with much credibility, the 1877-1878 El Nino readings, mind you, were recorded by the BOM themselves, and thus are indeed credible. In January 1939, Wilcannia in North-Western NSW hit 50.0° C, and Richmond just west of Sydney hit 47.8° C; long after the introduction of the Stevenson Screen back in 1887.
In north-west Australia rainfall mainly comes in summer, thus preventing temperature from reaching readings as high as those in the Sahara, Middle East, and western North America.
In north-west Australia rainfall mainly comes in summer, thus preventing temperature from reaching readings as high as those in the Sahara, Middle East, and western North America.
Yeah but its sporadic, for instance look at Port Hedland. Record highs of 49C (120F) so it gets real hot but the average high is like 36.4. It's more like Dallas instead of Phoenix although its record highs can go head to head with Phoenix.
Yeah but its sporadic, for instance look at Port Hedland. Record highs of 49C (120F) so it gets real hot but the average high is like 36.4. It's more like Dallas instead of Phoenix although its record highs can go head to head with Phoenix.
It's little and sporadic but enough to prevent north-west Australia from getting as hot as other tropical and subtropical deserts. North-west Australia has the potential to be hotter than any desert on earth during summer but rainfall prevents it from happening. There are many record highs of above 45°C but there is no place in whole Australia that has average highs of 46°C or 47°C during the summer.
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