A hot Canberra summer

For the past five days, temperatures have been above 35C (The Canberra Times, January 7, 2013). Saturday’s temperature reached 40C. Tuesday is expected to reach 38C. If so, that will be six days in a row. After a brief dip in temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday, the heat will rise again above 35C and continue to the weekend. Minimum night-time temperatures have been between 15C and 21C.

In 2009 and 2010 there were four days in a row over 35C, but back in 1988 there were six consecutive days above 35C. However, Canberra’s longest period above 35C was in 1947 when there were nine days in a row.

Elsewhere in the nation, the town on Hay reached 48C and Ivanhoe hit 45C on Saturday, while Wilcannia reached 47.6 on Sunday.

Canberra typically has dry summers and cold winters. The average summer time temperatures are 27C (81F) with 12C (54F) at night. This compares with autumn – from 7C (45F) to 20C (68F); winter – from 1C (34F) to 12C (54F); and spring – from 6C (40F) to 19C (66F). The average number of sunshine hours in summer is 9.3; autumn is 7.1 hours; winter averages 6 hours; and spring averages 8.4 sunshine hours.

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