Penguin unearthed

Southerly buster

We've just had the hottest New Year's Day on record in Sydney. It got to 44 degrees in the centre of Sydney. A day which if it had been in December, would have been the hottest December day on record, and I'm pretty sure is the hottest day we have had in my time living in Sydney.

I've been sitting obsessively refreshing the Bureau of Meteorology's observations website all afternoon, tracking the southerly from Bega, to Merimbula, to Ulladulla, Kiama, and then finally here to Sydney.

And now at 9.45 at night, I'm sitting out in the backyard revelling in the southerly which came through half an hour ago. The temperature dropped by at least 10 degrees in half an hour, and I feel like I can stretch and relax for the first time today.

Global warming is clearly having an impact on our weather (not just because of today - I'll return to this in a latest post) but I will be able to cope a lot better if we still get our southerly buster at the end of a hot day. Just the thought of it coming later made the whole day a lot more bearable.

posted by Jennifer @ 9:43 pm