Australia set a new heat record for the second day in a row on Wednesday. The average high temperature for the country was 41.9C/107.4, almost 2 degrees higher than the previous record of 40.9C/105.6F set Tuesday. The previous record was set in 2013. Some cities had higher temperatures: a record high temperature for December in any city was set in Nullarbor, with a temperature of 49.5C/121.6F. The previous December high temperature was set in 1972. The heat wave is expected to continue through Saturday, so more records could be broken. https://www.accuweather.com/en/severe-weather/heat-wave-to-bake-australia-raise-risk-for-wildfires-this-week/646151
The record heat combined with drought conditions is contributing to massive bushfires. Many areas have total fire bans and New South Wales has declared a state of emergency through next week. Because of the bushfires and smoke, numerous areas in Australia are reporting unhealthy or hazardous air quality, with 2 areas reporting hazardous air with an AQI over 1000. https://aqicn.org/map/australia/
