By John Ikani
Australia has equalled its hottest day on record after a remote coastal town reported temperatures of 50.7C (123.26F).
The record was set in 1960 and has been unmatched for over 60 years.
However, on Thursday, Onslow equalled the all-time high with two other monitoring sites Mardie and Roebourne in Western Australia also breaking 50C.
It is the highest temperature ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere.
Onslow and the surrounding areas could see records broken again with temperatures set to rise slightly on Friday.
The record-matching tempreratures comes after Western Australia reported large bushfires last month.
One fire near Margaret River scorched through more than 6,000 hectares of land, forcing evacuations.
A severe heatwave has been hovering over the region for a few days with experts saying the build-up of warm air is being caused by a lack of thunderstorms.
Christmas 2021 was also the hottest since records began more than a century ago.
Local media reports say that this year’s rainfall has been between 0 and 50 millimetres through November and December, well below normal levels. The average temperature for this time of year is also usually around 36C.
The record-breaking heat comes just days after a report from the EU’s satellite system confirmed that the past seven years have been the hottest on record.
Heatwaves are becoming more likely and more extreme because of human-induced climate change.
2021, in particular, was one of the warmest, coming in at around number five on the agency’s rankings.
The world has already warmed by about 1.2C since the industrial era began, and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.
