Marguerite
Active Member
It's really weird at the moment. Tropical storms in Queensland are having an impact. There is another on the way, it could still strengthen back up to cyclone level, but Queensland is one of Australia's largest states. husband told me yesterday, "Did you realise more than half of Queensland is currently under water?"
Here are some figures:
Queensland (area) - 668,207 sq miles
Alaska (area) - 663,267 sq miles
And although floodwaters are now receding, more rain is on the way.
This morning Fifi Box, the weather girl on Channel 7, was interviewing the mayor of Ingham about how they're coping with the town under water. She did a piece which showed emergency services and the resources in place. The mayor has disinfection kits to hand out to every household as the waters recede, so they can make up the stuff and spray the entire property, because septic tanks etc will all be contaminating everything.
Whenever we get massive floods like this people again talk about turning the rivers inland. Despite the droughts, not a good idea. We did that once already with the Snowy River Scheme and the Riverina. ANd because of all the irrigation use, rising salinity has killed a great expanse of land and river where it would still be working if we'd left it alone. So all we can do is watch as all that wonderful water washes back out to sea...
And now to heat. I've mentioned the forecast heatwave here, the one that hit Melbourne and Adelaide a week ago and the one that is hitting NSW now and on through the weekend. During massive heatwaves (as in massive fires) the wildlife often moves indoors.
This morning they announced that this heatwave IS going to break records, it's forecast to break previous world records at Ivanhoe, in the west of NSW. I just liied it up, the previous record high for Ivanhoe was in 2004 at 48.5 C (119.3 F). Ivanhoe has had 11 consecutive days over 40 C and looks like it's now heading to take the crown this weekend as the hottest place on Earth. I'd like to discuss this one further with the media and find out on what they base this - the hottest temperature ever recorded on the surface of the planet is 57 C somewhere in Iran, from what I can find. But maybe they're basing it on te longest hot spell over 40 C, in which case - Ivanhoe is heading for the record books for sure.
On the news last night they told us that the high prices we're currently paying for fruit & vegetables are due to heat/flood damage. The produce is literally cooking on the trees and in the fields.
All I know for sure is - it's hot here. It's going to be unpleasantly hot this weekend, although two years ago it was even hotter on New Year's Day.
I wish I could send some of it heading to those of you locked in by heavy snow.
I'll let you know how we get on. But for now, difficult child 3 & I have to load up into the car and head out. We've got the typical morning sky of a heatwave day - murky sky with heavy mists (condensation overnight) which are boiling off fast to leave a sky like a turquoise enamel in an upturned copper bowl. Any clouds will rapidly boil off and we won't see any more until late afternoon near the coast.
Oh well, the sooner we leave the sooner we can get back home for a swim. Time to grab the bottles of ice from the freezer, plus bottles of water, and hit the road, Jack.
Oh, one more tiny item of news. Apparently that plane that ditched in the Hudson River in New York had the callsign Cactus 1529. Now, is it only in Australia that "cactus" means "we've had it"? Imagine the scene - broken-down rusty ute (Holden utility, aka pick-up) collapsing on its springs in the middle of the Simpson Desert. The driver gets out, kicks a tyre and it falls off. "Reckon we'd better start walking," he says. "The ute's cactus."
Time for me to get going, before we're cactus!
Marg
Here are some figures:
Queensland (area) - 668,207 sq miles
Alaska (area) - 663,267 sq miles
And although floodwaters are now receding, more rain is on the way.
This morning Fifi Box, the weather girl on Channel 7, was interviewing the mayor of Ingham about how they're coping with the town under water. She did a piece which showed emergency services and the resources in place. The mayor has disinfection kits to hand out to every household as the waters recede, so they can make up the stuff and spray the entire property, because septic tanks etc will all be contaminating everything.
Whenever we get massive floods like this people again talk about turning the rivers inland. Despite the droughts, not a good idea. We did that once already with the Snowy River Scheme and the Riverina. ANd because of all the irrigation use, rising salinity has killed a great expanse of land and river where it would still be working if we'd left it alone. So all we can do is watch as all that wonderful water washes back out to sea...
And now to heat. I've mentioned the forecast heatwave here, the one that hit Melbourne and Adelaide a week ago and the one that is hitting NSW now and on through the weekend. During massive heatwaves (as in massive fires) the wildlife often moves indoors.
This morning they announced that this heatwave IS going to break records, it's forecast to break previous world records at Ivanhoe, in the west of NSW. I just liied it up, the previous record high for Ivanhoe was in 2004 at 48.5 C (119.3 F). Ivanhoe has had 11 consecutive days over 40 C and looks like it's now heading to take the crown this weekend as the hottest place on Earth. I'd like to discuss this one further with the media and find out on what they base this - the hottest temperature ever recorded on the surface of the planet is 57 C somewhere in Iran, from what I can find. But maybe they're basing it on te longest hot spell over 40 C, in which case - Ivanhoe is heading for the record books for sure.
On the news last night they told us that the high prices we're currently paying for fruit & vegetables are due to heat/flood damage. The produce is literally cooking on the trees and in the fields.
All I know for sure is - it's hot here. It's going to be unpleasantly hot this weekend, although two years ago it was even hotter on New Year's Day.
I wish I could send some of it heading to those of you locked in by heavy snow.
I'll let you know how we get on. But for now, difficult child 3 & I have to load up into the car and head out. We've got the typical morning sky of a heatwave day - murky sky with heavy mists (condensation overnight) which are boiling off fast to leave a sky like a turquoise enamel in an upturned copper bowl. Any clouds will rapidly boil off and we won't see any more until late afternoon near the coast.
Oh well, the sooner we leave the sooner we can get back home for a swim. Time to grab the bottles of ice from the freezer, plus bottles of water, and hit the road, Jack.
Oh, one more tiny item of news. Apparently that plane that ditched in the Hudson River in New York had the callsign Cactus 1529. Now, is it only in Australia that "cactus" means "we've had it"? Imagine the scene - broken-down rusty ute (Holden utility, aka pick-up) collapsing on its springs in the middle of the Simpson Desert. The driver gets out, kicks a tyre and it falls off. "Reckon we'd better start walking," he says. "The ute's cactus."
Time for me to get going, before we're cactus!
Marg
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