41 degrees !! Madre de Dios !!!

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:27 pm

Well. the *official* temp for ACT today was 38deg.......taken at the Airport.

Out in the 'burbs at Belco, the mercury climbed to 41 f'n degrees

bloody hells bells

no wonder it felt a bit *warm* for a ride ..........

Anybody get a higher reading out there ( apart from the KSRC guys at Broken Hill

)

tape · Post by **tape** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:30 pm

It was 39 at Moonee Ponds about 4.pm

It felt a lot hotter after we walked out of Dan Murphy's tho... soooo much grog in one place... Hic.

cheers

mike-s · Post by **mike-s** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:54 pm

They are predicting 43' tomorrow in Sydney, im not sure if thats the cbd or out Penrif. If it's the city, god help us, were all gonna f*#ing melt.

Cept those of us sleeping it off at work in the aircon tomorrow (about the only damn good thing i can think of about working tomorrow)

matchan · Post by **matchan** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:20 pm

no can't beat it but it was 41 today out at Harden (west of Yass, NSW), phark it was hot.

Still pretty damn warm at 8:30pm

Ratmick · Post by **Ratmick** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:17 pm

We had a tad over 41 yesterday, 42.3 today late arvo, and it's still 32.4 at 10:30pm.

We have had multiple fires up here today, smoke from over the hills to our north-east has been drifting past to our east all afternoon. Fortunately they all seem under control now, but my fire pump is out and connected to the tanks, the hoses are run out and it has had a test run this arvo. I've got a full jerry can of petrol for the pump, torches in strategic places and the in-laws have been pointed to the escape route. Spare hoses in the back of the mower trailer, and I've been listening to the police/CFA frequencies on the Scanner.

One of the fires was pretty large, they evacuated a quite few roads and established a strke force command centre around 25-30km from here. I heard the CFA call for a .22 rifle and 'lots of ammo' to euthanase around a 1000 sheep who were unlucky to be in the path.

Not the best New Years Eve, especially for the sheep, poor buggers.

RG · Post by RG » Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:46 pm

Heat is heat, wat about humidity?

Ratmick · Post by **Ratmick** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:51 pm

RG wrote:Heat is heat, wat about humidity?

...very low, around 23%.

A bit of a worry given the temperature and the strong northerly winds.

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 10:10 pm

Ratmick wrote:We had a tad over 41 yesterday, 42.3 today late arvo, and it's still 32.4 at 10:30pm.

PHWOAR fcuk me dead, almost 43 deg !!

that is hot, damn hot.....

mate, it sounds like you are pretty well organised with the fire-fighting stuff ! We had another *small* suburban fire here yesterday, don't know if it made your local news, it only destroyed a couple of townhouses, but jesus hasn't it got the local SES up and about

No-one up here will forget January 2003 in a hurry

any smoke over the city now sends a collective shiver up about 300,000 spines......

and how about Sydney tomorrow ???? Forecast 41deg for the *city*, that normally means about 45+ out west

glad I am not in Penrif !!!!

Ratmick · Post by **Ratmick** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 10:28 pm

Gosling1 wrote: PHWOAR fcuk me dead, almost 43 deg !! that is hot, damn hot.....

mate, it sounds like you are pretty well organised with the fire-fighting stuff ! We had another *small* suburban fire here yesterday, don't know if it made your local news, it only destroyed a couple of townhouses, but jesus hasn't it got the local SES up and about

No-one up here will forget January 2003 in a hurry any smoke over the city now sends a collective shiver up about 300,000 spines......

and how about Sydney tomorrow ???? Forecast 41deg for the *city*, that normally means about 45+ out west glad I am not in Penrif !!!!

The first year we were here (this is our third) we had one Saturday where it was 47. Now THAT was hot...damn hot...and we had no air-conditioning either. As we're wooses we bought air-con the following spring, and we've been right the last two seasons.

We saw the Canberra fires on the news last night. After 2003's effort it must be still newsworthy

. I remember they freaked Ros out, she still talks about those fires.

Re. the preparation...well, it's all untested. The Cobaw State Forest is about a kilometre away and well within flaming ember range. At least we only have grass, and putting grass fires out in the open is a different kettle of fish to fighting a forest fire in thick scrub.

The main thing we don't have control over is the length of our neighbour's grass along our boundaries (ours is less than an inch high). The old guy next door died a while back and his widow sold their sheep, and then the property. The new owners are a young Scottish couple, they are the proud owners of 62 acres of very long thick grass, nothing to eat it and a very nervous set of neighbours. Theoretically I can complain to the council and force them to cut it but I don't want to piss them off...

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 10:43 pm

Ratmick wrote:...... The new owners are a young Scottish couple, they are the proud owners of 62 acres of very long thick grass, nothing to eat it and a very nervous set of neighbours. Theoretically I can complain to the council and force them to cut it but I don't want to piss them off...

47 !!!!!!!! jesus wept, that is normally Central Oz temps !!! bloody hell.

Any fires up here now freak us all out

Mate, as far as the neighbours are concerned, you need to show them some videos of the Ash Wednesday fires, or any footage of the 2003 Canberra firestorm, if that doesn't convince them to cut the grass, then I would be straight onto the council - I guess as *nicely* as possible under the circumstances ..

they need serious enlightenment of how dangerous an Aussie bushfire is...

Have you got the downpipes blocked off and gutters full of water ??

Hopefully the temps will fall a bit after tomorrow..........*crosses fingers, legs and arms*

Ratmick · Post by **Ratmick** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 11:04 pm

Gosling1 wrote:Mate, as far as the neighbours are concerned, you need to show them some videos of the Ash Wednesday fires, or any footage of the 2003 Canberra firestorm, if that doesn't convince them to cut the grass, then I would be straight onto the council - I guess as *nicely* as possible under the circumstances .. they need serious enlightenment of how dangerous an Aussie bushfire is...

Have you got the downpipes blocked off and gutters full of water ??

Hopefully the temps will fall a bit after tomorrow..........*crosses fingers, legs and arms*

Mate, they've only been in the place for about a fortnight, I thought I'd give them a bit of breathing space before I sicced the council fire control rottweilers on them (or start pirate broadcasting video footage)

. They are a bit paranoid up here after Ash Wednesday, eight people were killed locally and the burn scars are still viewable on Mt Macedon today.

I have a copy of the CFA post-mortem of the entire Ash Wednesday as a PDF file, it itself would be enough to freak them out. It freaked me out, a lot of the deaths nationally were stupidity or panic-driven, like not leaving when the CFA suggests it would be a really good idea because you were pissed out of your gourd. Some were unlucky and paid the price, however some were VERY lucky and escaped with only bad burns. Very sad, and sobering to realise the decisions you make while under duress in the heat of the moment(!) could have deadly consequences.

Yes, I have the bungs for the gutter downpipes in the shed, will put them in if required as I'm not convinced they'll hold water in overnight. The downpipes are removable from the tanks if required.

...waiting for a cool change

mick_dundee · Post by **mick_dundee** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:21 am

I cleaned up after Ash Wednesday down in Aireys Inlet, the pub kept operating in a garge out the back of the pub as the pub was being rebuilt. I had the brick clenaing contract for the pub after I finished the voluntary cleanup work, kinda liked that job.

Knock off work at lunchtime, walk to the shed out the back for a free counter meal and first pot free for workers...

Few had the one pot of course which made it worth their trouble.

I was working at what was called Seagull Paddock in Geelong that day (Ash Wednesday) and you could tell just by looking at the sky it was going to be an ugly day for bushfires, so red and angry looking and yes that might sound cliched but that's really the way I remember it.

Barrabob · Post by **Barrabob** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:29 am

Oh just makes me want to stick on the leathers and do a track day....should invite oj as well the big poof.

happens every year that i can remember but living in a fibro house for a few years really makes you appreciate it.

Lainie · Post by **Lainie** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 1:13 am

Reached 44.3 in Essendon and Laverton today:?

mrmina · Post by **mrmina** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 10:10 am

GPX.Lainie wrote:Reached 44.3 in Essendon and Laverton today:?

it was 43.8 in my area.