Temperature records have tumbled across South Australia, with the city of Adelaide experiencing its hottest day on record, as the second heatwave in as many weeks hit southern parts of Australia.
Adelaide hit 46.6C on Thursday afternoon, the hottest temperature recording in any Australian state capital city since records began 80 years ago.
The Red Lion, a pub in the city’s Elizabeth North suburb, promised to hand out free beers if the mercury rose above 45C. By 1pm, there was a line out the door and round the block.
This guy, Muoi Pham, 60, is a legend. Brought free water to those waiting in line at The Red Lion without shade. Gave me a bottle for free too. This is the Elizabeth I know. #adelaide #heatwave pic.twitter.com/t5aGdU2ejk
— Royce Kurmelovs (@RoyceRk2) January 24, 2019
In Port Augusta, 300km north-west, an all-time record was also set, as the city hit 49.5C.
Last week, temperatures in Adelaide, home to 1.3 million people, hit 45C, sending homelessness shelters into a “code red”, and sparking fears of another mass fish death in the Menindee Lakes in the neighbouring state of New South Wales.
In central and western Australia, local authorities were forced to carry out an emergency animal cull, shooting 2,500 camels – and potentially a further hundred feral horses – who were dying of thirst.
Just so we're clear, being the hottest place on Earth is not the way that I had hoped Australia would be leading the world re. #climatechange when I started working on this thing ... but it's probably what our current level of policy ambition deserves.#climatecrisis #auspol pic.twitter.com/oPnEilRpcv
— Alexei T (@AlexeiPT) January 24, 2019
The hottest places in the world right now: https://t.co/IZVNXXi28R pic.twitter.com/y6D2h1FGEV
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) January 24, 2019
On Thursday, 17 records were broken across South Australia, either of all-time temperatures or January records.
Sternhouse Bay (45.6C), Port Lincoln (47C), Minnipa (47.3), and Snowtown (47.3C) were among the hottest, with Snowtown beating its previous record by 1.3C.
RECORDS: Stenhouse Bay has easily surpassed its previous record of 44.0C (on 16 Jan & and 2 Feb 2014), and is now 45.6C. Adelaide Airport is also a record at 44.3C (previous record 44.1C 4th Jan 2013). Roseworthy is at 46.9 (prev record 46.7 on 28 Jan 2009).
— Bureau of Meteorology, South Australia (@BOM_SA) January 24, 2019
Thursday’s heat is set to spread across the states of Victoria and New South Wales, just days after an earlier record-breaking heatwave passed across the country.
Last week, a dozen heat records fell, with nine alone in NSW. The small NSW outpost of Noona, around 800km west of Sydney, recorded the country’s highest ever overnight minimum temperature of 35.9C.
The back-to-back heatwaves are part of a summer that the Bureau of Meteorology predicted as being hotter and drier than average, partially as a result of climate change.
On Friday, Victoria will become the “hottest place in Australia”, according to Jonathan How from the bureau.
The cities of Mildura, Swan Hill and Echuca are set for 46C, which could break records.
In Melbourne, as Novak Djokovic and Lucas Pouille settle in for the semi-finals of the Australian Open, the maximum temperature will be 43C, with 44C in some suburbs.