Locals swelter through heatwave
SHEPPARTON has started the new year on a high, but not the high you would expect, with the region last week sweltering through a heatwave that saw Friday’s temperatures break Shepparton’s records.
Temperatures rose rapidly in the morning on Friday, reaching above 30°C
by 9:30am in Shepparton and reaching 44.6°C by 4:40pm, which is the hottest January day ever recorded in the city.
After a very short cool change on Saturday the mercury has been rapidly rising and is forecast to remain in the 30s for the next week.
In Shepparton alone, the highest temperature average from 1997 to 2017 at this time of the year has been 31.8°C, with this year already beating that by an additional 5°C. The lowest temperature average from 1997 to 2017 was 15.2°C with this year again beating that by an additional 1.6°C.
Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster, Miriam Bradbury said, “The previous record in Shepparton was 44.3°C on January 31, 2009 so it has been 10 years. We’ve had a few 40 degree days since then also, but because this one beat that record it’s something worth talking about.
“The heatwave was caused by a synoptic pattern that was favourable to getting a mass of hot air moving down from northern and central Australia and strong north to north westerly winds pushing that air across to Victoria.
“What we often see happening ahead of a front as we saw on Friday is strong winds that help to increase temperatures right across the state.
“We are now heading into a slightly milder week but will be expecting to see higher temperatures again towards the end of the week with the hottest day in the forecast being 39°C on Saturday and it looks like Monday will be another hot one with perhaps 40°C or so expected.”
