N.S.W. HEAT WAVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23718, 27 January 1939, Page 5

N.S.W. HEAT WAVE

MANY DEATHS AND COLLAPSES SYDNEY'S FIERY SATURDAY (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Jan. 20. New South Wales will never forget Saturday, January 14, the final day of the great heat wave. Hundreds of persons collapsed, and 47 died from heat, making the total heat-wave roll for the State 110 in a week. Not a town in the whole State had a temperature of less than 100 degrees, and in Sydney the temperature soared to 113.6 degrees, beating the previous record of 108.5 degrees which had stood for 32 years. Definitely the worst day in its history.

A scorching north-west wind, which to use the words of the State meteorologist, Mr Mares, “tapped the tremendous reservoir of heat which had been building up for a month over the parched interior of the continent," brought with it dense masses of dust and bushfire smoke, which completely enveloped the city, reducing visibility, particularly on the harbour, down to dangerous limits. So dense was the haze that the sun was almost obscured. It appeared as a dull red ball, which could be looked at with the naked eye with ease. Late in the afternoon, when the sun was low in the sky, it was not visible only a halo of dull light showing its position. A peculiar light, similar to that of a total eclipse, was cast over the city. Ever since the heat wave started, the surge of hot air from inland areas had been pressing toward the coast, but was kept at bay by sustaining sea breezes, which, day after day, acted as a buffer, forcing the heat back from Sydney. Late on Friday night the barrier collapsed when the sea breeze fell to a dead calm. As soon as the buffer was removed, the wall of heat advanced unchecked, and on Friday night the phenomenon of temperature rising by leaps and bounds, long after sundown, astonished Sydney residents.

The night that followed was probably the most remarkable ever experienced in Sydney. Sleep was practically impossible, as the hot, dry air permeated through the coolest houses and made furniture, floors and bedding hot to the touch. It was oppressive indoors, * but far worse out of doors. During the early morning the wind set in steadily from the northwest, blowing over more than a thousand miles of scorched country, where for a full month the temperature had not fallen below 100 degrees, and as the day wore on it increased its strength. Saturday night’s southerly caused still another weather record to be broken. The drop in temperature from Saturday’s maximum at 8.50 a.m. was 46.1 degrees, which was the greatest variation of temperature ever recorded at Sydney within 24 hours During the hottest part of the day the relative humidity dropped to 4 per cent., by far the lowest ever recorded