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Heatwaves, Bushfires and Dust Storms
Wednesday, 23 October 2002
The last five days have brought out the worst, but also the most
interesting weather phenomena's. Last Saturday (19th) a heatwave hit the Hunter
bringing with it low humidity, strong WNW winds and high temps. The temperatures
recorded across the region were the highest since October 1988. Temperatures
were 38°C or higher at many stations (see table below). The low humidity
combined with the current dry spell and strong winds made the fire hazard
extreme. As a result fires broke out around the Cessnock area, claiming one life
and destroying 13 homes at Abernathy. Bushfires continued to burn on and
off throughout the last few days. Because
the relative humidity has been so low, the temperature variations have been more
then 30°C from the night to the day. These large temperature variations have
been close to a record.
Despite
the high temperatures recorded on Sunday, no records were broken at stations
with more then 20 years of data. Cessnock (Nulkaba) recorded the highest
temperature in the Hunter of 39.1°C. This temperature was 1° below its October
record.
Today
there was a thick blanket of dust that was carried by the strong WNW
winds in the lower and middle levels of the atmosphere, leaving many parts of
the Hunter covered in an orange tinge. The dust started to roll in mid morning
and by noon some places had a visibility of less then 1 km. The dust storm,
which originated in the arid regions, travelled eastwards from the central parts
of the Continent on a 1500 km front. Many areas from the South Coast of NSW to
Mackay in Queensland got hit by the thick red dust. The dust storm itself
was visible by satellite and it was possibly the biggest dust storm to occur on the
Australian continent for 20 years.
Maximum
Temperatures (°C) across the Hunter for the 19 October 2002
Cessnock (Nulkaba) |
39.1 |
Gosford AWS |
36.3 |
Jerrys Plains Post Office |
38.7 |
Lostock Dam |
37.0 |
Maitland |
38.0 |
Murrurundi Post Office |
36.0 |
Newcastle Uni |
37.9 |
Paterson (Tocal) |
39.0 |
Scone Airport |
38.1 |
Williamtown |
38.6 |
All data provided by the Bureau
of Meteorology
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