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Australia's hottest month on record

Ben Domensino, Friday February 1, 2019 - 18:05 AEDT

Australia is experiencing unprecedented heat this summer.

After registering its hottest December in 109 years of records, January just became Australia's hottest calendar month on record. This follows Australia's second warmest year on record based on the national average maximum temperature during 2018.

Last month's exceptional heat was caused by a combination of blocking high pressure systems in the Tasman Sea, the late arrival of northern Australia's monsoon and background assistance from rising global temperatures.

Australia's average maximum temperature during January was a whopping 3.37 degrees above the long-term average for the month. The average minimum temperature was 2.45 degrees higher than usual. Combining the two gave Australia a mean temperature that was 2.91 degrees above the norm. All three metrics were new records.

Every state and territory except Queensland also registered their warmest January on record based on the average maximum temperature. For the sunshine state, it was the 5th warmest on record.

Visit http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/aus/summary.shtml for more informatin on Australia's weather extremes during January.

- Weatherzone

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