Results tagged “hot weather” from Oh Susanna

Heading for 43 or maybe more

Melbournians spend a lot of time talking about the weather, in my experience. Maybe one reason for this is the fluctuations in temperatures that you can experience, from one day to the next, and even in the proverbial "four seasons in one day".

We're now facing a predicted high temperature today of 43 degrees C, the hottest, and most extreme fire danger day we have had since Black Saturday, 7^th February, 2009, when 173 people lost their lives on one of the most dangerous days of fire danger since European settlement of this vast country.

Today is not expected to be as hot as Black Saturday, which according to the weather  bureau reached 46 degrees. Nor is the wind as strong. But it is bad enough, with campers and locals being asked to leave camping grounds in the Grampians, Little Desert, Wyperfeld National Park and other forested areas in the North West of the state where the fire danger has hit the new "catastrophic" rating. What does that mean? Click here to find out...

Here in our office, we hope that the morning "hissy' fit by the office air conditioning system will be rectified, as at is at least working on the upper floors of the building. Once again it seems a little petty to be complaining about air conditioning not working properly, when people are risking their lives fighting fires, even if there has been nothing catastrophic to date. Let's just hope it stays that way.

The hot conditions also threaten to play havoc with the public transport system. The thought of sitting in a train that is not going anywhere, with air conditioning not working, somehow does not appeal.

I had an appointment at the hairdresser's at 9 this morning, and with a temperature forecast of 44, revised upwards from 43 degrees overnight, it seemed like a good plan to spend the rest of the day at home. Particularly after a night out last night at the cricket, when the Aussies lost their fifth one day match in a row, to the Black Caps.

Today's temperature and forecast high winds before a strong south westerly change later in the day, with extremely low humidity lead to bush and grass fires across Victoria in the hottest day on record. Melbourne reached 46.4, and 47 degrees was a common high across the state. When you get a combination of hot weather and strong winds like this, fighting fires becomes extremely dangerous: lessons learnt in past battles have lead to the safety of fire fighters as the first priority, with protection of homes as a secondary aim, and other assets coming a distant third. On a normal hot day, tankers can drive along the flank of a fire, dousing the flames, and while extremely uncomfortable, can be fought directly. Just to go outside for a few minutes during this afternoon was horrendous, I can only imagine how dreadful it was to be involved in this battle.

Today's extreme conditions have been so dangerous, that authorities can't even tell us how many houses have been lost. Noone knows at this stage whether lives have been lost, as may isolated properties are still unable to be checked. What we do know, is that more than eleven homes have been lost, a farmer has been hospitalised with 50% burns to his body and fires still rage in Gippsland and to the North of Melbourne.

Behind the scenes, thousands of volunteers give up hours of their time, to man fire stations, tankers and radios. Each time the fire network radio crackles, breaths are held, wondering: Is this the big one that we've all been waiting for.

In a strange kind of fatalism, those of us who have lived in regional Victoria understand the truth, that the thin veneer of civilisation and control over our Australian environment can be broken by a tiny spark. For years, we lived in the false, naive belief that our modern equipment and techniques could protect our homes and our lives from the ravages of bushfire, provided we were well prepared.

We now know that there are days when we are completely helpless, and that life is far more precious than possessions. Planning will, and must be done; for the thought of having done nothing cannot be countenanced. The ABC News website has more details.

It was a busy weekend, after last week's hot weather. It is strange how temperatures in the 30's which we would normally be complaining about now seem quite mild. A busy Saturday: I managed to get some major re-organisation of my wardrobe done in the morning, mainly throwing out some stuff, and reorganising like into like which should make the work day morning easier to manage.

Any plans for Saturday afternoon were thrown into disarray by a severe headache, presumably brought on by "challenge" of sodium metabisulphite, shortly before. Alas, this means I will have to continue to be careful to avoid preserved meats, wine and anything in the 220-228 food additive range. Luckily, some paracetamol and rest made a Vietnamese BBQ (no additives) a very pleasant diversion in the evening, followed by a long Skype session with Aussie Lass who has been suffering with pharyngitis, followed by a severe ear infection, complicated by an allergy to penicillin.

Sunday lunch: prawns, salad and home made mayonnaise, goes to show that you can still have a really nice meal, even with food restrictions.

Sunday afternoon: a lovely snooze, before heading off to the Melbourne Zoo Twilight Concert, for the 21st birthday party of the lovely S.

The final activity of the weekend, keeping up with cricket and tennis matches being concurrently played: the final of the Australian Open Tennis and the first One day cricket match between Australia and NZ, both of which were pretty exciting matches kept me out of bed much longer than I had intended. (Flicking between the channels, until I could stay awake no longer)

Earlier in the evening, with Australia all out for 181, and in contemplating the prospect of an easy NZ victory in 30 or 40 overs, I contemplated finding some excuse for not going to work this morning: just to avoid the hard time I might have got. Thankfully, the game turned into a thriller, not a walkover, and I can hold my head up high this morning, despite the Aussies losing.

A thrilling five set tennis match with Nadal coming out the victor over Federer just made us appreciate the skill of these fine tennis players, who were definitely not just going through the motions.

Today the temperature has reached 44 45.1 deg, after 44 yesterday, and 43.4 the day before...At least, we haven't had any air conditioning problems today, nor any power outages, at work anyway, but lots of places are suffering with no power as well.

There is a cool change predicted at any moment...

But the respite will be very short, tomorrow is predicted to be 35...

That almost seems like cool weather after three days over 43...

Postscript: The temperature reached 47 deg in the Wimmera...

The heat wave continues, yesterday's top was 43 degrees, with another one predicted today, and more hot weather to come over coming days.

According to the weather bureau, the current heat wave is expected to be the hottest for something like 100 years, and there is little chance of any relief until the weekend, and even then, there will only be a brief respite before the heat rolls in again.

Apparently this heat wave is caused by a blocking high pressure system over the Tasman Sea, drawing hot Northerly winds across Victoria and South Australia from central Australia. The heat changes lots of things in the way we go about things: our houses are not built for extended heat waves, as we normally only get one or two hot days in a row before a cool change. The affordability of air conditioning systems means that many of us do have them installed these days, in contrast to my childhood when the best that we could manage was a fan.

The most extreme day that I can remember, as a child was when it reached 116 deg F or 46 C. When you don't have air conditioning, there is nothing that can be done to make the house cooler. During the heat of the day, my brothers and I sat motionless on our wide shady verandah in our cotton shorts and shirts, spreading our limbs out so that there was the maximum exposure of bare skin to any stray breeze that came along. We tried to sleep at nights, but pillows felt unbelievably hot, and after a while, nothing made a difference at all. Even sleeping on campbeds on the verandah didn't help, as the beds really only allow you to stay in one spot on the bed, in contrast to normal beds when you can move around to a spot that has not been heated to body temperature.

Eventually the temperature will drop, things will return to normal, and the events of this week will go into folklore: Do you remember how hot it was in January 2009?

The current heat wave brings some reminiscences of previous summers. It's hard to imagine  in this time of water restrictions and global warming, that we were once allowed to frolic on lawns with the garden hose, in our bathers, screeching as the blast of cold water hit us unexpectedly.

Dips in the farm dam, but only after 5pm when the heat of the day was just beginning to dissipate, and supervised by our long suffering mother.

Icy poles, home made ice cream and home made lemon cordial.

Later on, in the Western District; fish dinners (with redfin from the farm dams) chips and salad, followed by mulberry topped cheesecake. (The mulberries were from the tree in our orchard)

Our girls enjoyed splashing in our paddle pool on the lawn, which mysteriously sprung a leak one summer.

Much later I found out that Pink Ukulele had bitten a hole in it, pretending that she was a crocodile..., but by the time I found out, it was too late to contemplate anything but having a good laugh!