January was Australia's hottest month since records began

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/01/january-named-as-australias-hottest-month-on-record?fbclid=IwAR2NjWcpy03P-wCIIkckXzZo1CezXqYY2CW1h8H6n_x6b2VTCJwStkcTH8o

Lisa Cox and AAP
Thu 31 Jan 2019 19.51 EST
First published on Thu 31 Jan 2019 18.15 EST

January was Australia’s hottest month on record, with the country’s mean temperature exceeding 30C [86F] for the first time since records began in 1910. [And that is including night time temperatures.]

The Bureau of Meteorology released its climate summary for January on Friday and said the widespread heatwave conditions and daily extremes were “unprecedented”.

“There’s been so many records it’s really hard to count,” said Andrew Watkins, a senior climatologist at the Bom.
Adelaide breaks its all-time heat record, hitting 46.6C, in extreme Australia heatwave
Read more

January was Australia’s warmest month for mean, maximum and minimum temperatures.

Large parts of Australia received only 20% of their normal rainfall, particularly throughout the south-east in Victoria and parts of New South Wales and South Australia.

Tasmania, which has been battling bushfires throughout the past month, had its driest ever January.

Watkins said Borrona Downs in north-west NSW broke the record for hottest minimum temperature, registering one night at 36.6C [97.9F].

•••••

“The warming trend which has seen Australian temperatures increase by more than 1C in the last 100 years also contributed to the unusually warm conditions,” Watkins said.

•••••