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Is Sydney having a 'heatwave' in December?

Sydney is hot, hot, hot, again. - ABC

Apparently, the heat is on and we should all brace ourselves for temperature Armageddon.



Well, for two days anyway.

Soâ?¦ it's not a heatwave .

It is true, Sydney is experiencing hot temperatures above the mid-30s for Tuesday and Wednesday and there's not much sea breeze to take the edge off, but why do we find this so unusual?

This is Sydney. It is December. It is summer.

I wanted to find out whether all the 'Sydney Sizzles' headlines today were justified, and not just by feeling the sweat bead across my brow, or by asking the usual media-coverage-on-a-hot-day suspects, such as Bondi beachgoers, road workers, and zookeepers making ice blocks for animals at Taronga.

Someone close to me regularly says numbers do not lie, so I went straight to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

"Today we are forecasting a maximum temp of 36 degrees and tomorrow will be 37 degrees," duty forecaster Miranda Langton said.

"But I have felt that hot in December before," I replied.

"Yes, it is warm, but it's slightly unusual in the fact that Sydney hasn't seen two days in a row above 35 degrees in about five years, or two days in a row above 36 degrees for about 10 years," Ms Langton said.

According to BOM's predictions, the overnight minimum temperature will be unusually uncomfortable too.

"We could break a record for the highest recorded minimum temperature [which is] 26.3 degrees and that was set in 1868," Ms Langton said.

Despite the hard numbers to prove Sydneysiders will indeed bake over the next two days, we can't class it as a "heatwave" â?? BOM says that can only happen if there are three days of unusually high temperatures.

When you compare Sydney to other places this week, perhaps we should all stop whinging.

Elsewhere in New South Wales it will be much warmer, while our friends in Queensland and the Northern Territory would consider our weather positively balmy.

Plus, the harbour city has endured far hotter temperatures than we are experiencing right now.

Cast your mind back to January 19, 2013 â?? now that was a scorcher.

The , while across greater Sydney the hottest suburbs were Penrith (46.5C), Camden, Richmond and Sydney Airport (46.4C), and Bankstown (46.1C).



Use 'common sense' in the hot weather

I am not saying people shouldn't be careful in the heat â?? it's as important as ever to stay cool, hydrated and protected from the blazing sun.

NSW Ambulance says the service receives a spike in calls during hot weather, with people suffering from sunburn, dehydration and heat exhaustion.

"Basic knowledge and a pinch of common sense go a long way in keeping cool and staying out of hospital," Superintendent Mark Gibbs said.

"Drinking plenty of water and make good use of shade, fans and air-conditioners can be the difference between remaining healthy and ending up in hospital.

"The very young, the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are typically the most vulnerable."

I'm also not saying the issue of rising temperatures and climate change overall isn't important.

It absolutely is, but that's a far more involved discussion than will fit into this article.

What I am saying is, yes, it's hot.

But we will get through this, Sydney.

We will slip, slop, slap, drink lots of water, sit in air-conditioning, go for a swim, dab our foreheads with wet face-washers, park ourselves in front of fans and wear our thongs at the beach so we don't burn our feet on the sand.

And all the while we can take comfort in knowing this: we only have to resort to the most extreme heat-management measures, this week anyway, for two days.

"There is a cold front moving through and that should approach Sydney tomorrow evening, so Thursday we're looking at a maximum temperature of 22 degrees," Ms Langton said.

Better reach for the cardigan.


- ABC

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