I'm in Melbourne and we had 5 days of 44+c deg temperatures. It was hard to get through it. I think the mercury even got to 45. These temps have been hitting Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. Nights were very hot, around 30 degs. We had the hottest day in 70 years, and the hottest string of days ever on record.

Trees in the back yard are burned, some older ones have survived ok, for now. Grass is yellow and dead in public parks. The lemon tree in my yard has held up remarkably well. No mosquitos to be seen (do insects die with the heat? I'm unsure). I have never in my life felt the sun's radiation burn the skin so quickly; I stayed right out of it. My boyfriend predicts that this city will become desertised. We have a water shortage as well with dams at 33 percent and it doesn't rain anymore (or hardly ever anymore).... Melbourne use to be known and famous for its rain... not anymore.

30 human deaths so far recorded in the city that I live linked to heat and more expected to come. That's probably a conservative figure too I imagine. I also imagine ALOT of pet deaths, dogs especially.

Here are some local paper links of interest:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24996636-661,00.html


http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24996094-2862,00.html


http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24993697-2862,00.html