Australian town hits record high temperature of 50.7C – Macau Business

A remote town in Western Australia has equalled the countrys hottest day on record, reporting a scorching 50.7 degrees Celsius (123.26 degrees Fahrenheit), the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Such temperatures could become commonplace in Australia due to global warming, the countrys Climate Council warned.

The coastal town of Onslow hit the blistering high on Thursday afternoon.

NEW Western Australian maximum temperature record and equal National temperature record! the states Bureau of Meteorology posted on Twitter.

Onslow reached an unprecedented 50.7C which is a WA record and equals Australias hottest day set 62 years ago in Oodnadatta SA.

The country last recorded a temperature of 50.7C on January 2, 1960 at South Australias Oodnadatta Airport, according to the bureaus website.

Climate Council research director Dr Martin Rice said the record was part of a long-term warming trend driven by the burning of coal, oil and gas.

He said extreme temperatures were already having deadly catastrophic consequences in Australia.

Heatwaves are the silent killer in Australia, they cause more deaths than any other extreme weather events, he said.

Australia has experienced a summer with bushfires in the countrys west and deadly flooding on its eastern coast.

Rice said that, without a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, such record temperatures could become commonplace in Australia.

In Sydney and Melbourne, we will see 50-degree summer days by 2030, he said.

The Bureau of Meteorology is expected to confirm the record officially on Friday afternoon after quality control checks are completed.

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Australian town hits record high temperature of 50.7C - Macau Business