The temperature, measured at a military training facility in Yampi Sound, broke the previous record of 41.2 degrees Celsius, recorded in nearby West Roebuck in August 2020. According to the agency, such a temperature is the highest ever recorded in August for any location in Australia, and also a new record for any winter month in the country.
Winter in Australia usually lasts from early June to the end of August. However, scientists note that the record temperature is only "tentatively confirmed" and still needs to be confirmed to ensure this number is an accurate measurement before it can be recorded.
A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said it was “the highest August temperature anywhere in Australia” and “the highest across Australia in any winter month”.
About 18% of Australia is desert, and hot temperatures are common year-round in areas far from the temperate zone. Australia's climate is heavily influenced by three cyclical climate patterns: temperature variations in the Indian Ocean; changes in the belt of winds that moves between Australia and Antarctica known as the Southern Ocean Mode; and changes in Pacific weather patterns known as El Nino and La Nina.
This is the highest August temperature anywhere in Australia.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology believes that “the combination of these major climate forces and global warming” contributed to the winter of 2023 being the hottest on record for the country. Climate scientists have predicted that 2024 could be the hottest year ever on Earth.
The European Union's (EU) Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said global temperatures in the first seven months of this year were 0.7 degrees Celsius higher than the average for the period from 1991 to 2020. Scientific studies warn that rising greenhouse gas emissions are accelerating global warming.
Temperatures have been hitting record highs across the globe in recent decades as human-caused carbon emissions have increased. In just the past few weeks, records have been set in the Mediterranean Sea, Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, and Ukraine's capital, Kiev.
An unusual heatwave has gripped parts of Australia's northwestern coast.
