theaustralian.com.au: The western Sydney suburb of Penrith was possibly the hottest place on the planet yesterday (Jan 7), reaching 47.3C as the NSW capital recorded its highest temperature since World War II.
The heat across the peak population centres in NSW was so extreme it plunged about 9000 homes into blackouts affecting Bateau Bay and Blue Haven on the central coast and Lane Cove, Gladesville, Bankstown and Punchbowl in Sydney.
The blackouts, according to Ausgrid, were related to “severe weather conditions”.
A heatwave caused by sweltering northerly air across central Australia swept across NSW, Victoria and South Australia at the weekend, prompting authorities to slap total fire bans on several states.
NSW residents were instructed by the Rural Fire Service to “head back home and sit in the aircon”, as temperatures soared in the greater Sydney and Hunter Valley regions.
Cricket fans braved the heat for the Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where the mercury soared to 41C by midday, though a thermometer in the sun on the pitch recorded 57C.
Penrith recorded its hottest day in 80 years at 3.25pm, the hottest place in Australia and potentially the world.
It did not manage to break the hottest record in the area of 47.8C, which was recorded at an old observation site in Richmond in 1939 when it was not part of greater Sydney.
The Bureau of Meteorology had initially forgotten about the site and had to rescind an earlier announcement of a record for greater Sydney.
BOM duty forecaster Helen Reid said the weekend’s temperatures were well above 40C in central NSW as well as most places west of the ranges.
“We saw a weak trough in the southeast of NSW, in combination with a strong high pressure system over the Tasman Sea,” Ms Reid said. “That combination provided a good flow of hot northerly air in the central part of Australia, which dragged lots of heat through the state.”
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