Friday, January 30, 2009

All Records Broken

I had cause to go into town to-day to have lunch with a congenial mate, and then off and around the city, stopping off to note down the times of service at the local Greek Orthodox church (they have Divine Liturgy one Saturday each month; a friend of mine worships with them in Hobart, and Fr Timothy their priest is a friend of a Catholic bishop I know), buying some groceries, looking for the latest copy of an Astronomy magazine I take, etc.

It was hot out in the sun, certainly, but I had no idea that at 3.30pm the temperature broke the all-time record: it reached 38.7°C - the hottest recorded since records began in 1884! That's 101.7°F.  Golly.

(I just noticed - the candle in its candlestick on the sideboard has bent over in the broiling heat.)

Scamander on the coast and Ross in the midlands were both 41.5°C at 3pm (new records for the mainland of Tasmania), Cressy and Launceston Airport inland from Launceston, plus Fingal all broke 40°C, Bushy Park and Ouse (both in the south, up the Derwent Valley) 38°C... extraordinary weather.

(Oh, and in Victoria Melbourne registered 45.1, while in South Australia, Adelaide was 43.1.  Perhaps the whole world is just going to drop into the Sun.)

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