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Adelaide Is Now Officially Australia’s Hottest Capital City

You could also think of it as Australia's least cool capital.

by Sam Langford  25 January 2019
Adelaide heatwave breaks records.

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Well, Adelaide is now officially Australia’s hottest capital city, after blazing its way to a record-breaking 46.6 degrees during the heatwave yesterday.

It steals the title of hottest (or alternatively, least cool) capital from Melbourne, which set the previous record of 46.4 degrees in 2009. Adelaide wasn’t even the hottest part of the country yesterday, either — elsewhere in South Australia, temperatures hit 48.6 degrees. So many records were broken yesterday that it’s futile to even try listing them. I mean, look:

And while Adelaide’s much cooler today, the heatwave continues in Victoria and Tasmania, which may break records of their own.

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Melbourne’s forecast to hit around 44 degrees, which would make it the hottest day since Black Saturday in 2009. There’s a total fire ban in place across the state, and experts are warning people to look after themselves in the heat, which is “not just a normal summer” heat.

A cool change is forecast to arrive in Victoria in the afternoon, but until then it’s going to be a very, very hot day. Meanwhile, in Alice Springs, the heat’s just become a fact of life:

It goes without saying that breaking this many heat records at once is not normal. And while people can bicker endlessly about whether this particular heatwave was caused by climate change or just a freak event, it’s pretty clear that continued climate change is only going to make this kind of event worse.

If you’re feeling the heat today, look after yourself first and foremost, but spare a minute to go ahead and pester Scott Morrison about taking climate change seriously already.