Black Saturday

[Owen]

Late January 2009 would see an extreme weather pattern begin to form over the Australian continent. To the east, a slow moving high-pressure system was forming in the Tasman Sea. Over the northwest of the continent, a tropical low was forming and was directing hot, tropical air towards the southeast of Australia. The heat began building over western and northern parts of South Australia on Sunday the 25th of January, but was spreading eastwards and by January 27th would cover a vast area of southeast Australia. On the 25th, Woomera in outback South Australia would record 37.9 °C (100.2 °F), gradually increasing to 39.9 °C (103.8 °F) on the 26th and 43.8 °C (110.8 °F) on the 27th. Over on the west coast, Ceduna would record 44.8 °C (112.6 °F) on the 27th. In Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, the temperature was 36.6 °C (97.9 °F) on the 26th and 43.2 °C (109.8 °F) on the 27th. Other areas around the Riverland region of South Australia, Sunraysia region of Victoria and Riverina region of New South Wales would also record temperatures in the high 30s/low 40s from the 25th through to the 27th. Melbourne would record a high of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) on the 27th. Heat was also beginning to build over northern and eastern parts of Tasmania.

Whilst these temperatures were not unusual for southeast Australia during the summer, the forecast was showing that they would be persisting well into the weekend and for some parts, like South Australia, well into next week. A weak cold front was expected to bring some relief for Melbourne on the weekend, but beyond that was hard to predict. Australia was bracing itself for a heatwave. The slow moving nature of the high pressure system over the Tasman meant that the high temperatures were here to stay.

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