Scorched Earth Policy Prevails

Newcastle Herald

Thursday December 2, 2004

HUNTER temperature gauges reached "ridiculously hot" again yesterday.

By 9am Williamtown was already sweltering under 36 degree heat.

In a reversal of fortunes, the temperature at traditionally sun-scorched Broken Hill was a mere 13.4 degrees at the same time.

Williamtown was the state's hottest location in the morning, with the mercury hitting 41.8 shortly after 1pm.

It came only a day after the town recorded its hottest November day on record at 42.1 degrees.

At Scone, the record books were rewritten again. Having recorded its hottest temperature on Tuesday at 40.6 degrees, yesterday's westerly produced a new mark of 40.7 at 3pm.

Nobbys Beach temperatures reached 33.7 by 9am, topping at 39.1 at 3pm.

Meteorologist and Newcastle University lecturer Martin Babakhan described the heat wave as similar to the Black Friday conditions which claimed 385 lives in Victoria and South Australia in 1939.

He said a return to the high 30s may well occur next week.