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Record-breaking temperatures have swept across Australia’s interior, as a heatwave intensified by climate change continues to scorch the continent.
Among the hottest areas was Marree, a remote town in South Australia’s outback, where temperatures soared to an unprecedented 49.8°C.
In the same region, Roxby Downs saw a blistering 49.6°C, with Woomera reaching 48.5°C and Leigh Creek hitting 48.2°C, all setting new temperature records.
For a day, Marree held the title of the hottest place on Earth, according to the global temperature tracking site, El Dorado Weather.
In a remarkable feat, Australia dominated the list of the top 15 hottest locations worldwide in the 24 hours leading up to 8 a.m. on Thursday.
Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said the blistering heat had broken dozens of temperature records across South Australia, NSW and Victoria over the course of a week.
He said what made this event more unusual was its longevity, which meant there was more time for heat to build up.
“This situation had a bit of a blocking pattern,” the Bureau of Meteorology forecaster told the Australian Associated Press.
“So the heat has just sat over us and just kind of wobbled around the south-eastern part of the country [with] no strong cold front to come in and clear it out.”
Narramore said the records that had been broken were multi-generational, with some having stood for a century.
“They’re not just 10 or 20 years old, they’re 30, 50, 80 and in some cases 100 years old,” he said.
“A lot of the records have been similar to a heatwave back in 1939, so that’s going back a long way.”
Heatwave warnings still in place
Heatwave warnings remain in place for NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, SA, the ACT and NT for Friday.
Maree (forecast high 49C), Port Augusta (49C), Roxby Downs (48C), Moomba (47C) and other east and north-east parts of SA are in for more extreme heat.
The mercury was also expected to reach 47C in Birdsville, Queensland, 46C in Mildura, Victoria, 45C in Broken Hill, NSW, and 43C in Wagga Wagga, also in NSW.
Of the capitals, Adelaide (expected top 41C) and Canberra (40C) will face the brunt of the heat.
Narramore said climate change was a contributing factor in the conditions.
“Obviously there is background warming so there’s more energy and more heat in the atmosphere,” he said.
“So when the systems align for these extreme scenarios, they are just a little bit warmer and last that little bit longer.”
Conditions set to ease over the weekend
The severe to extreme conditions are forecast to ease for almost all parts of the country by Sunday, bringing an end to the so-called “heat dome”.
Narramore said average temperatures in Australia were between 1 and 1.5C higher than they were a century ago.
The federal government’s National Climate Risk Assessment, released last September, projected that the number of severe heatwave days per year would double at 2C of warming and quadruple at 3C.
Heat-related deaths are projected to increase fivefold at 3C of warming.
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