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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Lauren Herdman (Metdesk)

Weather tracker: Australia suffers under severe heatwave and extreme rainfall

A road covered in red dust.
Paraburdoo, in Western Australia, where temperatures rose to 47.9C on Saturday. Photograph: simo2582/Getty Images/iStockPhoto

A severe heatwave in Australia led to daily temperatures exceeding 40C (104F) for vast swathes of the country over the weekend, with the Pilbara region in Western Australia particularly badly affected.

After peaking at 47.9C on Saturday, in the remote town of Paraburdoo, Sunday’s highest confirmed temperature at the time of writing was 48.3C, at Onslow airport on the western coast. Onslow is also the joint record holder for Australia’s highest-ever recorded temperature, having reached 50.7C in January 2022. This record could be under threat as the heatwave continues into Monday and Tuesday, with daily maximums of 50-51C possible in the same region.

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