notes on Australian weather

[deird1]

(Because summer is making an appearance, and I'm all thinky.)


Most people who don't live here seem to think that Aussie weather is:
1) hot
2) really, really hot
3) like, way too hot to move
4) HOT

It's a little more complicated than that.



1) Yes, it is hot. Compared to a lot of the world, anyway. Summers in Melbourne tend to reach 40 degrees (104F) every year.

2) Our country is rather large. Note that I said in Melbourne. Australia is very big - and the difference in climate between Hobart and Brisbane is roughly equivalent to the difference between Boston and Mexico City, or between Paris and Cairo.

3) It is not summer all year round. Melbourne tends to peak at about 40 degrees (104F). It tends to get down to about 4 degrees (39F). I can go to the beach in summer, go skiing in winter, and still spend most of the year in those comfortable 23 degree (73F) days.

4) It is not summer all day long. Melbourne is also fairly famous for its extremely changable weather. It might be 40 degrees (104F) today; it will probably be 20 degrees (68F) tomorrow. Bring a change of clothes.

5) It's not nearly as hot as you think it is. Not if you know how to handle it.


And (5) is my main point - because most non-Aussies find our weather unbearable simply because they don't know what they're doing.

Case in point: a group of exchange students from Germany. (This was back in 1998, shortly before I went to Germany for the winter.) We had a couple of very hot days, and all the Germans starting dropping from heat stroke.

Why weren't we getting heat stroke? Not because we're used to the weather and therefore somehow immune - but because we're used to the weather and thus know what you're supposed to do in weather like this (ie, very little).

Here's what you do in very hot weather:
- wear very light, thin clothing
- stay in the shade
- if possible, carry the shade around with you (this is why I have a parasol)
- turn on the air conditioning
- drink lots of water
- SIT STILL AND DO NOTHING

You should be operating at half-speed for all physical activities, and staying well out of the sun.

Our exchange students didn't know this. They saw sunny days as a chance to be outside and active, so they ran around and had fun and ran around some more... and then they started dropping like flies.

If you treat summer days in Australia the same way you treat summer days in Europe, then yes, the heat will be unbearable. If you copy the Aussies, you should be fine.

Comments

[beer_good_foamy]

It is not summer all day long. It might be 40 degrees (104F) today; it will probably be 20 degrees (68F) tomorrow.

So basically it's summer all day long?

[deird1]

*sticks out tongue*

[velvetwhip]

I lived in Vegas for two years. Your heat is NOTHING compared to Vegas (yes, it gets up to 120F quite often there).

And I never thought Australia was hot all the time, either. I just assumed you had seasons and such, just like most places.


Gabrielle

[deird1]

Isn't Vegas in the middle of the desert? I think that'd get hotter than my lovely right-next-to-the-sea city...

[velvetwhip]

Yes indeed, Las Vegas is smack dab in the middle of the desert. There are very strange people who live on the outskirts with no A/C...


Gabrielle

[a2zmom]

So, what you're telling me is you live in Texas! 8-)

[deird1]

Kinda. I think California has a close approximation to my weather. (Hence the planting of gum trees over there.)

[vass]

Here's a page about places with a climate like Melbourne's.

[bruttimabuoni]

Yanno, probably due to propaganda from Sydney-dwellers, I thought Melbourne was cooler than that, till your very memorable set of posts on extreme summer heat (last year? Year before?). You have everlastingly convinced me of the potential for ridiculous heat.

It is not summer all year round... most of the year in those comfortable 23 degree days. But, but, over here, we'd call that summer *g*. 23 degrees is definitely beach weather. (Mind you, if it's July or a bank holiday, 15 degrees is beach weather *and we'll pretend to enjoy it*)

[deird1]

till your very memorable set of posts on extreme summer heat (last year? Year before?)

February last year. *nods* That was bushfire season.


23 degrees is definitely beach weather.

Oh, definitely. But there's a big difference between "hot enough to check out the beach" and "too hot to MOVE". My point is that even though Australia gets to 40 degrees, it doesn't stay there.


(Mind you, if it's July or a bank holiday, 15 degrees is beach weather *and we'll pretend to enjoy it*)

O.O

*freezes just thinking about it*

[louise39]

Sounds utterly reasonable. NY reach 100 degrees a few days in the summer and most people just veg indoors with the a/c or head for the beach.

Now it is 35-40 degrees. Heat might be welcome.

btw: Re one of your comments; I just finished The Tomorrow series by James Marsden and enjoyed the books very much.

[deird1]

Now it is 35-40 degrees.

*shivers*

Still, snow... It's all pretty and fun...


I'm glad you liked the books! They're very well written, aren't they?

[louise39]

I have finished three of the series and when they were picked up and went to NZ, figured that was the end but... yay there's more and I ordered them from my library!

Enjoyed Ellie's viewpoint of the action and the other people. Marsden did a good job of showing her and her friends's growth and changes. I thought of how capable these youngsters were - to survive and fight!

Thanks for the rec.

[slaymesoftly]

alwaysjbj and I have constant semi-serious conversations of the "you're insane" "No, you're insane" variety when discussing what does and does not constitute nice weather. lol My idea of a nice day, is her idea of cold and nasty, and her idea of a nice day is my idea of too hot to leave the AC. :)

[rahirah]

In Phoenix it hits 40C every summer, but then it gets hotter.

[libco.livejournal.com]

Germans are weird with the hot weather anyway. I remember seeing them in leather in the middle of summer. Yuck! I mean I know its not that hot but still. And whew the BO on the train in summertime. (This is young people-older people are much more sensible)

[padawanspider.livejournal.com]

I have to be nit-picky. I have to!

You do have a certain level of "immunity" or adaptation to your heat levels.

Example 1: My favorite Girl Scout camp used to not have any air conditioning anywhere except for the infirmary; all the walled buildings just had big fans for circulation. About ten years ago they put air conditioning units in the cafeteria and library. There was an immediate increase in the number of girls who would get sick because of the extreme heat - they never got a chance to adapt to the heat because they were in and out of cold buildings all day.

Example 2: Shipbuilding and other construction don't slow down in the summer here in coastal Mississippi, even though temperatures can exceed 100F and heat indexes are around 110F (never mind that pipefitters are constantly working in the equivalent of a solar oven). They're doing heavy physical labor - welding, sawing, lifting - not paper pushing. There aren't a whole lot of heat stroke reports. The workers have adapted to the heat.

All that said - the Germans' ignorance likely still had a lot to do with their heat stroke. The fact that they had not yet adapted to the heat just made it all the worse.