As US freezes heatwave prompts 'severe fire' warnings in Australia - corrected Jan. 7, 2014

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/06/22202191-as-us-freezes-heatwave-prompts-severe-fire-warnings-in-australia?lite

By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor
Jan. 6, 2014

As the bone chilling “polar vortex” continues to freeze America to its core, in Australia things could not be more different as the sweltering temperatures that made 2013 the hottest year on record continue to blast the country.

The highest temperature recorded so far this year has been 125 degrees Fahrenheit in Moomba, South Australia, on Jan. 2. While in Sydney on Monday temperatures were a sweltering 96 degrees.

While less extensive and prolonged than the record breaking hot spell that opened 2013, the country’s Bureau of Meteorology called the latest heat wave a “remarkable event” in a statement Monday.

The report comes just days after the bureau confirmed last year was Australia’s hottest in more than a century of records, easily breaking the previous record set in 2005 by 32.3 degrees Fahrenheit [corrected 1/6/2014, should have been 3.23F, no surprise.]. [Wow! If this turns out to be a misplaced period, I'll make a correction.]


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