Hot and bothered by summer's fiery fury
By GEMMA JONES
December 2, 2004
FIREFIGHTERS were battling to save a tiny town in the state's Central West last night after a day in which sweltering temperatures topped 40C across the state.
Alectown, 30km north of Parkes, was surrounded by fire last night with residents of the town's 30 properties evacuated to Peak Hill as 20 fire trucks and four water-bombing aircraft were moved in to battle flames.
On just the first day of summer, high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity created nightmare conditions for firefighters battling blazes across NSW.
Resources were poured into fighting 20 blazes with some of the largest and most concerning at Parkes, Forster, Kempsey and Gosford.
The winds which fanned flames also brought scorching temperatures to the Hunter region and the mid-North Coast.
Singleton recorded the highest temperature in the state with a sweltering 44.7C during the afternoon.
On the mid-North Coast, December temperature records were smashed.
The mercury at Port Macquarie reached 42C, breaking a December 1957 record of 41C.
Nearby Kempsey reached 41.6C which broke the previous record, set in December 1972.
The high temperatures and driving winds fanned a blaze at Kempsey with smoke forcing police to close the Pacific Highway between Kempsey and Macksville.
Cameron Wade from the Rural Fire Service said the greatest area of concern in the state last night was Alectown.
There are just 30 properties in the town and the fire was heading straight for them.
Firefighters advised residents to leave their homes during the afternoon in preparation for a long night.
"We're moving people out of the town and moving firetrucks in," Mr Wade said. By 4pm relief was finally in sight with a southerly buster arriving in Sydney.
The southerly winds had earlier cooled the southeast and far west of the state.
Wilcannia recorded a maximum temperature of just 31C yesterday after Tuesday's top of 45.2C.
Julie Evans from the weather bureau said it was "spectacular" to watch as the cooling winds blew in through Sydney airport just after 4pm.
The airport had reached a scorching 41.7C during the day.
After the southerly, which reached a top speed of 91km/h, hit the temperature plummeted to 22C.
In Sydney, for only the 39th day in 150 years the temperature reached 40C at Observatory Hill.
The extraordinary temperature for a coastal area was recorded at 2.07pm.
The southerly change was not expected to reach the mid-North Coast until 8pm last night.
Mr Wade said a drop in temperature would assist firefighters but the strong winds could push flames towards homes at Forster.
He described yesterday's weather conditions as "shocking".
"It has been extremely windy, worse than yesterday because the strong winds finally showed up," he said.
The fire at Parkes had last night burnt almost 2000ha.
A similar size fire was still burning at Armidale and a fire covering 700ha at Cobar was still a cause for concern last night.
The weather bureau is expecting temperatures in the mid 20s for most of the state today.
Temperatures are expected to be mild for the rest of the week.
Aussie Heat
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AussieMark
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Aussie Heat
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TexasStooge
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AussieMark
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AussieMark
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Aslkahuna wrote:Tis' the time for the heat burst before The Wet. Happens to everyone who gets a monsoon. That subtropical ridge must be strong though to get southern cities like Sydney up there in the 40C range. Of, course, we ARE supposedly in an ENSO warm phase.
Steve
A ENSO warm phase usually delivers really scorching summer days.
1997-1998
2000-2002
are some years I know of
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TexasStooge
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cctxhurricanewatcher
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tropicalweatherwatcher wrote:between Saturday September 27th and December 1st the coolest day where I live was 35C / 95F.
That was my 5 days.
Saturday 27th: 35C (95F)
Sunday 28th: 38C (100F)
Monday 29th: 35C (95F)
Tuesday 30th: 43C (109F)
Wednesday 1st: 42C (108F)
Looks like a typical August week in Texas.
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AussieMark
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