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Could Australia hit 50C this week?

Author: Ashleigh Madden
Date: December 14, 2021 - 04:21 AM

 

However, once the hot air spreads to low-lying regions in norhwestern Australia later this week, temperatures could approach 50ºC.

The image below shows predicted surface air temperatures from the ECMWF-HRES model on Saturday and Sunday. Both days of the weekend have the potential to see temperatures of around 50ºC somewhere in the north of WA.

Image: Forecast surface air temperature and wind at 2pm AWST on Saturday, December 18, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

Image: Forecast surface air temperature and wind at 2pm AWST on Sunday, December 19, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

While 50ºC is a chance in the north of WA this weekend, it’s unlikely that this type of heat will occur at one of the state’s official weather stations in the region.

Port Hedland may be too close to the coast for 50ºC and is currently forecast to reach 47ºC on Sunday. However, it could exceed this forecast if the sea breeze is delayed enough and may challenge the site’s December record of 47.9ºC from 1954.

Australia’s highest officially-recorded temperature in December was 49.9ºC at Nullarbor in SA in 2019. Weatherzone provides detailed 14-day temperature forecasts, confidence intervals and extreme temperature forecasting, for more information, please contact us at apac.sales@dtn.com.

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