Australia Records Record Winter Temperatures with a High of 41.6°C in the Northwestern Coastal Area
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology reports that it recorded a record high temperature of 41.6°C at a military training facility in Yampi Sound, off the northwestern coast, at 3:37 PM local time on August 26 – surpassing the previous record by 0.4°C.
A spokesperson for the Bureau stated that this is the “highest temperature recorded in August anywhere in Australia” and “the highest temperature across Australia in any winter month.”
The previous record was 41.2°C, recorded in August 2020 at West Roebuck, near Yampi Sound.
Australia records record winter temperature in Yampi Sound on August 26. (Photo: EPA-EFE).
Winter in the Southern Hemisphere lasts from June to the end of August.
About 18% of Australia is desert, and high temperatures are commonly observed year-round in areas far from temperate zones.
The Climate of Australia is significantly influenced by three cyclical climate patterns:
- Changes in the temperature of the Indian Ocean.
- Variations in the wind belt that moves between Australia and Antarctica, known as the Southern Oscillation.
- Shifts in Pacific weather patterns known as El Niño and La Niña.
A specific combination of these three climate conditions can lead to unusually hot, dry, or humid weather in different regions across Australia.
According to research by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), all three major phenomena affecting Australia’s climate are believed to be influenced by human-induced climate change.
The Bureau of Meteorology believes that “the combination of these major climate impacts with global warming” contributes to making the winter of 2023 the hottest winter in Australia’s history.
Climate scientists predict that 2024 could be the hottest year on record for the Earth.
From January to July this year, global temperatures were 0.7°C higher than the average from 1991 to 2020, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Union.
Record high temperatures have been noted globally over the past few decades as human-caused carbon emissions continue to rise.
In just the past few weeks, numerous record high temperatures have been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea, the Svalbard archipelago in Norway’s Arctic, and the capital city of Kyiv in Ukraine.
