Earth Equity News

90% of State of Victoria, Australia, Experiences Record Heat. By Marian Wilkinson, Sydney Herald, February 10, 2009. "The heatwave that accompanied the bushfires on Saturday smashed records, as much of Victoria, including Melbourne and 20 other centres, registered unprecedented highs, the Bureau of Meteorology says. Melbourne reached 46.4 degrees [115.5] degree Fahrenheit] on Saturday, the highest in 154 years of record-keeping, overshooting the previous high set on Black Friday -- January 13, 1939 -- by 0.8 degrees [1.4 degree Fahrenheit] and far exceeding the temperature on Ash Wednesday in 1983, which was 43.2 degrees 109.76 degree Fahrenheit. 'We've never seen anything like this in Victoria's history,' David Jones, from the bureau's National Climate Centre, said yesterday. 'You don't usually break records by much. You might beat it by point one of a degree or point two.' The bureau accurately predicted the heatwave but it's forecasters were still in shock yesterday over the loss of life. Soaring temperatures were accompanied by strong winds and very low humidity which created the extreme fire danger. A review of the weekend temperatures by the bureau found many site records were set on Saturday. Geelong had a record high of 47.4 degrees [117.32 degree Fahrenheit] compared to the old record of 44.8 [112.64 degree Fahrenheit], which was set days earlier. Nearly 90 per cent of the state recorded the highest February temperatures ever."