The continent has been heating up, and now the conditions in the inland seem unearthly. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology's temperature forecast predicts a region of 54 C temperatures tomorrow--that's 129 F.
Fires are breaking out in several states. The country is on red alert. Over 100 homes have been lost in Tasmania. Several thousand hectares of forest have burned in South Australia.
Here in Sydney, temperatures reached "only" 41 C today (hot enough for me to stay home) and will be pleasantly cool for the next few days. But fires are burning even in Sydney's west.
The last two summers in New South Wales were non-events. People tell me they really didn't have any unpleasant heat at all. This summer is turning out to be different.
This is a country with an average annual rainfall of only 550 millimeters. It's amazing that agriculture can be so successful. Australian farmers are the most water-efficient in the world. But the rain isn't coming right now. Graziers are among the first to feel the effects.
The US drought was a boon for Australian grain prices. Let's hope that Australia doesn't suffer a similar reduction in output. Between the two countries, billions are fed around the world.
Here's a heartbreaking update:
ReplyDeleteBy blaze or bullet: agony of watching flock perish
by: Joe Kelly
From: The Australian
January 10, 2013 12:00AM
GARY Armour counts himself lucky that his home has been saved, but there's more than one way a bushfire can wreck a life and a livelihood.
The sheep farmer from Yass in southern NSW began the heartbreaking task of destroying his burned and injured flock yesterday as he took in the aftermath of the blaze that left his property a scorched and blackened wasteland.