Sunday, January 11, 2009

Perth in Summer

Today is the fourteenth day in a row that Perth has had more than 32C. Today it was 38.5C and it was still 35C at 5.30pm. Phew!!

People are still flocking to the beaches to cool off in the Indian Ocean even though there have been many shark sightings since that dreadful day 2 weeks ago when a 51 year old man was taken by a 5metre white pointer shark, while snorkelling at Port Kennedy, south of Perth. I have braved the ocean once for a swim, last weekend, but I must say I was a bit nervous of every shadow that appeared in the beautiful turquoise water. The shark spotter helicopter flew overhead while we were swimming, so we were as safe as we could be.

A cooler day is expected tomorrow but back to 38C by Thursday. They tell us this is normal Perth weather but it always comes a shock when it happens. At least the lovely sea breeze, the "Fremantle Doctor", has been doing his best every afternoon to cool us down.

4 comments:

Alden Smith said...

I don't think that we will ever be able to compete with the Australian weather for heat but we did have some real swealtering weather a couple of weeks ago - the tar on the Desert road in the Central North Island was melting as it was in many areas in the South Island giving motorists a lot of trouble - it was about 32 degrees - what happens to the Australian roads when it gets up around 40 degrees?!!!!

Kathryn said...

I think we must have different tar over here!
Yesterday it was 41.8C, we expected 40C. So we braved the ocean again to cool off. It was very warm overnight but a bit cooler and more humid today.
Today we have smoke in the air. We have bushfires at Kings Park, in Perth city, and at Yanchep north of the metro area. Also at Bridgetown, in the country south of Perth. People have been evacuated from their homes and I dread to think about the birds and wildlife. The tragedy is that bush fires are often deliberately lit. The poor firemen, fighting fires in all that heat!

Kelvin Wright said...

We've had 30+ degrees here today and an odd golden glow to the light because of the Australian bushfires. The moon rose blood red. Beautiful until you recalled what was causing it.

Kathryn said...

We are heading towards another 40degree day on Thursday. It has been quite pleasant for the last few days - around 30C.

But the news on tv is dreadful; horrendous bush fires in Victoria and floods in Queensland.

We have had a fire bug here in Perth too, lighting fires in Kings Park, but fortunately the fire fighters were able to put the fires out before they got out of hand this time. A lot of damage has been done there this summer.

Amazing that the bush fires in Victoria are affecting the sky over NZ.

I really feel for those people affected by the fires. Fire takes on a life of its own once it is out of control.