Western Australia has smashed extreme weather records yet again, with Perth set to record its ninth day at 40C or above this summer, beating seven days in 2015-16.
Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Catherine Schelfhout said the capital was endurixjmtzywng an unusually prolonged run of very hot days, reaching 40.8C on Tuesday, 42.1C on Wednesday and 40.5C on Thursday.
“And we’re going for 41C today and 40C tomorrow – that would make five days in a row above 40C,” she told NCA NewsWire.
Perth sweltered through a run of four straight days at 40C and above last month, from Christmas Day through to December 28.
The previous time that had happened was in February 2016 and February 1933.
It also hit 40C on December 8 last year, meaning the city has already had eight days of extreme heat this summer.
“The previous number of days we’ve had above 40C for a summer is seven, so today would make nine and tomorrow would make ten,” Ms Schelfhout said.
“We are breaking both those records – both the consecutive run of days and summer days above 40C – and we haven’t even reached February yet.
“February is usually our hottest month.”
The hottest Perth day on record was 46.2C on February 23, 1991.
“We’re not getting those extreme sort of maximums but it’s just long, numerous days, which is really hard for people to cope with,” Ms Schelfhout said.
“We’ve got a near stationary ridge to the south of the state and a trough that’s situated either just down the west coast or offshore to the west.
“So we get east-northeasterly winds and the sea breeze comes in very late and very weak, and doesn’t extend inland.
“The easterly winds just hold off the sea breeze until late in the day, so we’re allowed to heat up for most of the day.”
Coastal suburbs aren’t getting any relief, with Swanbourne recording 36.9C at 10.20am on Friday.
“Even Rottnest (Island) temperatures over the last few days have been around 38C, which is pretty unusual,” Ms Schelfhout said.
Mercifully, conditions are set to ease slightly on Sunday, with 38C forecast followed by 33C on Monday.
“There’s a new ridge coming in south of the state and will move into a sort of south-southeasterly wind regime, so we’ll get a bit of a surge of cooler air from the south,” Ms Schelfhout said.
The heatwave comes after temperatures at Onslow Airport in the state’s Pilbara region hit a staggering 50.7C on Thursday last week.
It was WA’s hottest day on record and matched the equal hottest ever in Australia recorded on January 2, 1960 at Oodnadatta Airport in South Australia.
