But its just started raining this morning. Not enough to get the ground wet yet, but here's hoping.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas
At 8:25 PM -0800 2/2/08, Steven L. Robinson wrote:
>Australia experiences hottest ever January: weather bureau
>AFP
>Fri Feb 1, 12:18 AM ET
>
>Sydney - Australia experienced its hottest January on record this year, with
>the dry continent heating up as part of the global warming process, the
>bureau of meteorology said Friday.
>
>Temperatures rose by between 1.0 and 2.0 degrees in most parts of the
>country, with the national average hitting 29.2 degrees Celsius (84
>Fahrenheit) for the summer month, said the bureau's head of climate
>analysis, David Jones.
>
>"It's a remarkable number certainly. Averaging, as we did across the whole
>country 1.3 degrees above average is the highest temperature we've seen in
>our history of records for Australia in January," he told AFP.
>
>Jones said it was a steady, persistent warmth rather than a heatwave which
>saw Australia heat up everywhere except in parts of northeastern Queensland
>state, where flooding was widespread.
>
>"Australia is warming up as part of the global warming process," Jones said.
>"Certainly record high temperatures are coming significantly faster than
>what we would have expected if it wasn't the case of global warming."
>
>He said warming in Australia was expected to be in line with the global
>projections.
>
>"It's just simply not surprising. The world is warming, Australia has warmed
>by about a degree (since 1950). It just means we get fewer cold days, fewer
>cold weeks, fewer cold months, and more and more hot ones," he said.
>
>"But I guess what is different to the rest of the world is that Australia is
>already very hot, whereas many other countries around the world have the
>luxury of a cool climate."
>
>The most extreme temperatures in January were in Western Australia and the
>Northern Territory -- regions with vast tracts of desert -- which had their
>hottest January on record.
>
>In the outback town of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, the coolest
>day of the month was 36 degrees (97 Fahrenheit).
>
>http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080201/sc_afp/australiaclimateweather_08020105
>1820;_ylt=AoAZUqL6_mbtnCGGwldhu8FrAlMA
>
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