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Mungindi robbed of state heat title

Brett Dutschke, Saturday March 11, 2017 - 16:00 AEDT

In late February Moree was awarded the title for most consecutive 35-degree days in New South Wales, but what happened to Mungindi who was leading the race down the home straight? Were they robbed?

We investigate.

The scene was set in mid-December when word was out an attempt to beat Bourke's heat record was on. Bourke was the current title holder and its 50 consecutive 35-degree days was up for grabs.

After some tough low-altitude training in Western Australia's Marble Bar, registered competitors settled in for a short Christmas break before the race which was due to start on Boxing Day.

Come December 26th, Mungindi caught the others off-guard, reaching 35 degrees that afternoon. Moree and Walgett were apparently still sleeping off their pudding and only reached 33-34 degrees and as a result, had some catching up to do. The three towns from the northwestern NSW then battled it out through the rest of December, all of January and half of February, Mungindi had a slim lead all the way.

On February 13th Walgett was out (only reaching 33 degrees), falling short of Bourkeâ??s record by just two days.

The next day Mungindi broke the record, one day ahead of Moree, and officially became the new state heat champion - 51 consecutive days of at least 35 degrees. All Mungindi needed to do now was stay hotter than Moree until a strong cool change arrived a few days later.

On February 15th, when temperatures were rising to the mid 30s, something drastic happened. Was it a planned power outage? Was it an unplanned power outage? Was it sabotage? Mungindi's automated weather station had stopped recording. There were rumours suggesting a Moree spy was among the celebrations in Mungindi and pulled the weather station's cable from the power point. The official findings have never been publicly announced.

On that day Moree was declared joint leader.

The race continued and Moree (and Mungindi) added three more hot days before that long-awaited cooler change arrived.

Moree had officially broken Mungindiâ??s record and was the new state title holder with 54 consecutive 35-degree days.

Our investigation found that on February 15th every location within 150 kilometres of Mungindi had reached at least 35 degrees, hence Mungindi could claim the unofficial state title, 55 days.

- Weatherzone

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