Victoria records highest December temperature in five years as Australia swelters under heatwave

Widespread heat recorded across South Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory and New South Wales

Victoria recorded its highest December temperatures in five years on Monday, as towns and cities across the country sweltered in widespread heat.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the state’s highest temperature on Monday was recorded at Walpeup, in Victoria’s north-west, which reached 47.1C at 2.25pm.

A spokesperson for the bureau said this was the fifth highest December temperature on record for anywhere in Victoria, but did not exceed the town’s own December record of 47.7C in 2019. “The last time a similar or higher temperature was recorded was on 20 December 2019,” they said.

While no weather stations had set December maximum temperature records, many sites in western Victoria were in their top five for December, according to the bureau.

“Temperatures in the west of the state were in the mid-40s, and 12 to 20C above the December average.”

Birdsville in Queensland, Smithville in western NSW, Renmark in eastern SA, and Jervois in the Northern Territory all recorded maximum temperatures above 45C.

Jonathan How, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said Adelaide felt the heat early, reaching its forecast maximum of 38C by 10am, after only dropping to 29.8 degrees overnight.

“It’s already hitting 40 degrees for some of the suburbs to the north,” he said.

Pallamana, in the Murraylands region to the east of Adelaide, reached 41.1C at 9.43am. Edinburgh, in the outer north of Adelaide, hit 41C at 9.55am.

In Melbourne, the central business district was 30 degrees by 9am, with temperatures rising to 38.8 at 5.20pm.

Much of Australia’s south-east, particularly inland areas, were already sweltering by mid-morning. In the north, Mildura had clocked 33C at 9am and passed 40C by mid-morning.

Ivanhoe and Wilcannia, in western NSW, were expected to be the hottest places in Australia and could experience their hottest December day on record. Both towns had already hit 37C by 9am, had exceeded 45C around 3pm, and were expected to reach 47C.

Wilcannia’s previous December record was 46.4C in 2005 and Ivanhoe’s 46.2C in 2019. “We’ll be keeping an eye on the mercury through there today,” How said.

“There is extreme fire danger all the way from the Mount Lofty Ranges in Adelaide through the south-east of SA, all western Victorian districts, and then central Victoria, that includes Melbourne today,” he said.

Although a cool change would bring relief from the heat, How said, it wasn’t expected to reach Adelaide until late afternoon or early evening and was expected to reach Melbourne about 7pm.

Sydney is forecast to reach 33C on Tuesday, with places further west like Penrith and Richmond tipped to record 42C.

Large parts of central Australia were experiencing extreme heatwave conditions, which were likely to stick around for the next six to seven days.

Australia’s land surface has warmed by 1.5C since 1910, according to the BoM, with the climate crisis making heatwaves longer and more intense and increasing the number of extremely hot days.

Cover photo: Much of Australia’s south-east, particularly inland areas, was sweltering by mid-morning. Photograph: Diego Fedele/EPA