Victoria, Australia: Year’s hot finale

The hottest year on record in Victoria ended with the hottest day for 2007 as temperatures in many parts of Victoria soared above 40 degrees centigrade reported the Melbourne Age. In Nhill in the Wimmera and Hopetoun in the Mallee, the mercury hit 43.7 degrees centigrade in mid-afternoon, a record for the year.

In Melbourne, the temperature hit 41.1 just before 5pm, the city’s hottest day for more than a year. Electricity usage surged as the rising temperature forced householders to switch on the air-conditioning. The scorching end to 2007 will confirm it as the hottest year on record in Victoria.

Despite the heat, there had been only a handful of ambulance trips for heat-related conditions by late afternoon across Victoria, while the major hospitals also saw a limited number of heat-affected patients.

Figures from the Bureau of Meteorology show the average temperature in 2007 was about one degree above the long-term average. It was a fifth of a degree warmer than the previous hottest year in 1988.

There were no significant fires in Victoria despite the hot, windy conditions but in many parts of the state the heat was barely tolerable.

In Warrnambool, beaches were teeming with people despite a “stifling wind”, said Matilda Wills from the Lady Bay Resort. She said it was the “hottest wind I’ve ever encountered”. In Mildura, it was so hot that an electronic sign measuring the temperature outside one of the Hudak’s Bakery stores had reset in the afternoon. “It means it has gone off the scale,” said owner Michael Hudak. To lure customers, two of his bakeries display the temperature inside and outside the store. Inside was a cool 22 degrees and outside it was well over 40.

At Chadstone Shopping Centre crowds were about 30% greater than manager Stephen DeWaele had expected, as people sought an air-conditioned escape from the heat. “People have been coming into cinemas and going bowling,” he said. “There’s plenty of people just wandering the malls.”

Across the state, swimming pools were a popular option.