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Canberra melts under November heat

Canberra has just experienced its hottest November since becoming the official capital city of Australia, according to weatherzone.com.au.

Exactly half the days in November in Canberra had a maximum temperature of 30 degrees or more, a whole seven degrees above the official monthly average.

Both the average maximum and minimum temperature were what can only be described as phenomenal, leaving the city melting under its hottest November in 70 years. Not only that, but Canberra reached 39 degrees on Friday the 20th, the likes of which has only been seen once before in the history of the site.

?Generally, November is still a transitional period for south-eastern Australia, with a winter weather pattern fading and a summer pattern emerging,? said Sam Terry, meteorologist for weatherzone.com.au. ?This November was different, with an extreme lack of wintry systems moving through. This allowed hot air to build over the inland and push over the ACT.?

The blistering November heat wasn?t confined to the ACT. Throughout the region surrounding Canberra, including the NSW Southern Tablelands, the Snowy Mountains and the Southwest Slopes, almost all locations had their hottest November on record.

The significant and prolonged heat, combined with a lack of rain, has also led to some very high fire dangers across the region. Canberra itself had its driest November in seven years, collecting just 17 mm, less than half of the average. This meant that Canberra was able to record a Fire Danger Index above 50 for five days of the month, peaking at 84 on the 20th. This is classified as ?extreme? and is just one level down from the new ?catastrophic? classification.

?A rainfall deficit is set to continue into summer,? Terry said. ?This, combined with the forecast above average temperatures, brings great potential for fire danger right across southern NSW and ACT.?

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2009

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