As temperatures soar, you might be curious about just how intense the heat can get. Residents of Onslow in Western Australia certainly know, as they endured blistering temperatures on January 13, 2022, matching the record high experienced by the remote outback town of Oodnadatta in South Australia on January 2, 1960.
Meanwhile, the town of Hopetoun in northwestern Victoria experienced sweltering conditions with the mercury rising to 48.8 degrees Celsius on February 7, 2009.
It’s worth noting that the Australian Capital Territory is not separately listed when discussing extreme temperatures. This is because the Bureau of Meteorology includes the region with New South Wales, where the highest recorded temperatures occurred.
Over in the Northern Territory, the small town of Aputula, formerly known as Finke, also saw extreme heat, hitting 48.3 degrees Celsius on both January 1 and 2, 1960.
The ACT is not listed in this table because BoM groups it with NSW, and the highest temperature on record was recorded in the latter.
In the NT town of Aputula, formerly known as Finke, the mercury reached 48.3C on both 1 and 2 January 1960.
And in Tasmania, the temperature in the east coast town of Scamander hit 42.2C on 30 January 2009.
How about records in the capital cities?
Perth reached 46.2C on 23 February 1991, according to BoM, while Adelaide hit 47.7C on 24 January 2019.
During the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, on 7 February, Melbourne reached 46.4C.
Hobart’s record-high of 41.8C was reached on 4 January 2013, while Canberrans sweltered in 44C heat on January 2020.
