Australia’s hottest day? Not 2010, but 1828 at a blistering 53.9 °C (129 F)
Back before man-made climate change was frying Australia, when CO2 was around 300 ppm, the continent savoured an ideal preindustrial climate, right? (This is the kind of climate we are spending $10b per annum to get back too?)
We are told today’s climate has more records and more extremes than times gone by, but the few records we have from the early 1800’s are eye-popping. Things were not just hotter, but so wildly hot it burst thermometers. The earliest temperature records we have shown that Australia was a land of shocking heatwaves and droughts, except for when it was bitterly cold or raging in flood.
In other words, nothing has changed, except possibly things might not be quite so hot now.
Silliggy (Lance Pidgeon) has been researching records from early explorers and from newspapers.
What he’s uncovered is fascinating! It’s as if history is being erased!
1.For all that we hear about recent record-breaking climate extremes, records that are equally extreme, and sometimes even more so, are ignored.
2.In January 1896 a savage blast “like a furnace” stretched across Australia from east to west and lasted for weeks.
3.The death toll reached 437 people in the eastern states.
4.Newspaper reports showed that in Bourke the heat approached 120°F (48.9°C) on three days.
5.The maximum at or above 102 degrees F (38.9°C) for 24 days straight!
What is most interesting about this was the skill, dedication and length of meteorological data taken in the 1800′s. When our climate is “the most important moral challenge” why is it there is so little interest in our longest and oldest data?
Who knew that one of the most meticulous and detailed temperature records in the world from the 1800′s comes from Adelaide, largely thanks to Sir Charles Todd.
Rainfall records even appear to go as far back as 1839. Lance Pidgeon went delving into the National Archives and was surprised at what he found.
The media are in overdrive, making out that “the extreme heat is the new normal” in Australia.
The Great Australian heatwaves of January 2013 didn’t push the mercury above 50C at any weather station in Australia, yet it’s been 50C (122F) and hotter in many inland towns across Australia over the past century.
It makes you wonder about putting the blame on those high records – On man-made global warming.
“I think we can all do our little bit by planting trees and owning conservative vehicles etc but my opinion – It is What it is. There will always be extremes in every thing even the weather. Our world is in Gods hands I am more concerned about the hate in this world – The Hate and judgement that comes out of ones mouth, does a lot more damage not the Temperature of the Air.” Me (L Voth)
Interested in this subject go to info – Silliggy (Lance Pidgeon)