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Filed under: Broken Hill, Climate, Heat, Heat Wave, Summer, Weather

90 comments

[Ed’s note, at the time of publication the temperature in Sydney was 38 degrees and rising.]

One day with the mercury set to rise above 40 and Sydney is awash with panic the moaning can be heard all the way here in the Outback. Facebook and Twitter is jammed with people’s personal accounts of their preparations to beat the heat almost like Heat Survival plan for one day.

Air conditioning is for wimps… Picture: Braden Fastier

Out here in Broken Hill a day over 40 is the norm this summer we’re in the middle of a 10 day stretch with temperatures over 40. I’m Sydney born and bred and now live in Broken Hill. I just happen to have landed in Broken Hill in the middle of one of their hottest summers ever so I reckon I can speak with some authority about heat.

Let me tell you Sydney about real heat. Real heat is when you wake up at 2am drenched in sweat and you check the temperature and it’s a balmy 35 degrees.

Being told that only way to get your house cool is to have your air con running 24/7 the whole of summer is real heat. Real heat is when It’s 44 degrees and there is a power failure in the town because the energy system just can’t cope and you’re forced to spend your night lying on the bathroom tiles praying for the power to come back on squirting yourself with water that is now hot from your spray bottle.

You know you’re in a real heat situation when you can’t get to your pool to cool off coz your thongs have melted just walking on the concrete and if you went barefoot you’d lose the soles of your feet.

You know you’re experiencing real heat when people and animals start to look and behave strangely and you actually don’t think it’s that strange. Like pulling up to a set of lights and the person in the car beside you is wearing only a bikini and has a coke bottle above their head and is tipping water over themselves.

Underwear becomes optional. The neighbour’s chooks have their wings constantly raised to let the air circulate.

You walk past the vicious neighbourhood dog who normally makes it his duty to run to the gate and bark his head off every time you go by and now all you get is a slight head lift as he sprawls out in the shade of the veranda.

Real heat is when cooking appliances are now obsolete. When camping instead of a stove all you need is a slippery dip to cook your can of spaghetti.

Cooking eggs? No pan needed simply crack and cook on the road. I’ve honestly seen both of these things taking place.

So I reckon I’m well within my rights to say harden up Sydney it’s just one day tomorrow you’ll be complaining about what a terrible summer you’re having coz it’s raining and only 24 degrees.

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90 comments

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- jg says:
  
  06:21pm | 08/01/13
  
  Rode a camel into the sahara a few years back in 50 degree heat. That was f*cking hot. I mean, really, really f*cking hot.
  
  At least it cooled off to about 40 overnight
  
  Reply
- Scott Cole says:
  
  05:51pm | 08/01/13
  
  @sunny 3.12pm. wrote “someone might fry an egg on your ass! ” You’d fry an egg on your donkey? And eat it as well! Sounds like possible animal cruelty to me. Unless you sent your post from the US of A, the word is spelt “arse’ in Australia!
  
  Reply
- Jackson Jackson says:
  
  05:02pm | 08/01/13
  
  Geez, what’s with this one-upmanship about the weather. Should those who live in warmer areas of the country get medals?
  I live in Perth and work outdoors, so I know how it feels - life goes on and you do the best you can. a person who is unaccustomed to the heat will feel it more - is that really news to anyone?
  
  FWIW, a cheap way to keep cool whilst sleeping is to get two sheets - dampen one sheet, not soaking wet, just damp. Lie in bed, put dry sheet over you first, then put damp sheet on top. Evaporation will draw the heat away from you and you should be able to get some kip.
  
  Reply
Sickemrex says:

06:00pm | 08/01/13

I’d rather pay the power bill than replace the matress every month…
- 40.33 degrees celsius says:
  
  04:57pm | 08/01/13
  
  January 7 2013 or January 8 2013 was the hottest day in Australian history for all Australia at +40.33 Degrees Celsius average compared to the old 1972 record of 40.17 Degrees Celsius
  
  Reply
- Tel says:
  
  04:41pm | 08/01/13
  
  ‘......praying for the power to come back on…...’
  In a word - GENERATOR! Who, west of Lithgow, would be without one?
  
  Reply
- OzTrucker says:
  
  04:37pm | 08/01/13
  
  Yeah well I walked 25 miles to school in bare feet and grew up in a cardboard box….
  
  Give me a break!
  
  At work today loading the truck had to stand in a little yellow box safety zone in long pants and long sleeves and a helmet in the sun while the bloke doing the loading is sitting in his air conditioned fork lift. Yep oh&s makes sense…... You can’t sit in the cab with the air on on…. No you might get hit…. Idiots!
  
  Reply
- Terribla says:
  
  04:33pm | 08/01/13
  
  That’s really hot!
  
  Reply
- Nostromo says:
  
  02:57pm | 08/01/13
  
  Heatwave!? That ain’t nuthin. Back in summer of ‘94 I spent 3mths in the gemfields in central Qld (yes, I lost a bet - big time!). Got there just after xmas & had 48-49C *in the shade* for the 1st 3 *weeks*, with zero % humidity, at the tail end of an 18 mth drought.
  
  Hang a full load of jeans/thick towels on the hills hoist & start taking them down when the washing basket is empty at the other end - you can’t make this shit up! My GF forgot one pair of dark blue jeans & 2 hours later they were almost white. Now THAT’S a heatwave!
  
  Then the rains finally came & flooded the whole damn place for 3 days lol…
  
  Reply
Sickemrex says:

05:48pm | 08/01/13

Ahh, Central QLD. God’s own country. If God is an utter arsehat.
Grandpa S says:

04:51pm | 08/01/13

Everything is harsher the further back you go. That’s nothin, back in the 30s my car broke down. I had to walk 68 miles on a 40 degree day just to get a thimble full of corn oil so I could drive it home god sarn it.
- Sam says:
  
  02:49pm | 08/01/13
  
  This is a poorly written article, riddled with incorrect grammar and punctuation. Where are the Punch’s editors? Or have they all been laid off? Not impressed.
  
  Reply
- PsychoHyena says:
  
  02:41pm | 08/01/13
  
  Well here’s the thing… Different people living in different locations acclimatise to the weather and temperature in that location.
  
  Otherwise I might as well laugh at all those people complaining about temperatures around 10 in winter when I’m getting -2 or lower.
  
  The point is that what you feel as normal is not normal for everyone, otherwise why do people from WA, SA, NT, QLD, NSW all wear jumpers on a summer night here in Tas?
  
  Reply
- AFR says:
  
  02:38pm | 08/01/13
  
  You guys all need some concrete to harden up….
  
  When I grew up in Leeton, it was 50 degrees in the middle of the night, and I had to walk to school after doing my chores in 60 degrees, 10 miles in bare feet and none of this artsy fartsy hat and sunscreen either! Then the teachers turned on the heaters in the classroom until it was about 70 degrees before making us run around in the playground all lunchtime in blazers and long trousers, and none of those silly trees to stand under of course….
  
  Now, what were we talking about again?
  
  Reply
- SimpleSimon says:
  
  02:36pm | 08/01/13
  
  It’s the bushfire threat concerning me at the moment. The part of the suburb I live in didn’t exist when the fire storm hit Canberra in ‘03, but if it did it would have taken a beating. Now I live right on the edge - a street away from the paddocks that border the bush - so I’m watching the reports pretty closely.
  
  Reply
- dwain says:
  
  02:20pm | 08/01/13
  
  come live at uluru been way over 40 for weeks
  
  Reply
- The Sandgroper says:
  
  02:16pm | 08/01/13
  
  You’ve never known heat until you’ve lived and worked in Marble Bar!!
  47°C at 11:00 in the morning!
  
  Satan sat by the fires of Hell
  As from endless time he’s sat,
  And he sniffed great draughts of the brimstone’s smell
  That came as the tongue-flames spat;
  
  Then all at once the Devil looked stern
  For there in the depths of Hell
  Was a fellow whom never a flame could burn
  Or goad to an anguished yell;
  
  So Satan stalked to the lonely scene
  And growled with a stormy brow,
  ‘Now, stranger, tell me what does this mean?
  You should be well scorched by now.’
  
  But the chappie replied with a laugh quite new;
  ‘This place is too cold by far!
  Just chuck on an extra log or two!
  I’VE COME IN FROM MARBLE BAR!
  
  Vic Courtney - author
  
  Reply
- Michael says:
  
  02:12pm | 08/01/13
  
  I note that not too much was heard from Doha when this was tabled!
  http://www.climatescienceinternational.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=761.
  
  Just 134 scientists saying the evidence is not there. The Earth has cycles, always has and always will. Everyone is selling something and somewhere out there, is the truth! The rest, is just the weather!
  
  Reply
Michael says:

06:10pm | 08/01/13

Sunny, the report in your link takes a lot of its information from the Intergovernmental Report on Climate Change, which talks of the increase in Carbon Dioxide levels and on one hand says, “scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal”, then later says, “there is an absence of an attributable climate change signal in trends in extreme weather losses to date”. Interesting.

The Earth is a closed system, to an extent. It is still influenced by Solar radiation variables (7 and 12 year cycles etc). I guess the periods of ice ages and heating cycles that occurred previously, with their associated changes in CO2 levels are also an “inconvenient truth” and would certainly seem cyclic!
sunny says:

06:00pm | 08/01/13

John - fossil fuels have been sequestered (buried) deep for millions of years, therefore are an external source - until we started digging them up and ignited them pumping CO2 into the atmosphere with great efficiency in the last 100 years or so. Your ‘Hmm’ implies you are intelligent, yet you didn’t know this??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeling_Curve
Sickemrex says:

05:53pm | 08/01/13

Ummm because when CO2 is in the ground in fossil fuels it’s in the er, ground?
Michael (not the original poster) says:

05:49pm | 08/01/13

What external source? does someone have a big pipe pumping Co2 from outerspace into our atmosphere?
Brian says:

05:30pm | 08/01/13

Guess I should start worrying when a source of CO2 external to the Earth starts coming then. While it’s quite possible pollution can cause global warming, you should really be a little more careful with your terms - people will jump up and down on the meaning of a word.
John says:

04:59pm | 08/01/13

Sunny, that’s a bit of an “own goal”.

If the Earth is a “closed system” (which it isn’t by the way) how the hell can you pump CO2 into it “from an external source”? Hmm?
sunny says:

04:44pm | 08/01/13

“The Earth has cycles”

The Earth is a closed system. Pumping CO2 into that system from an external source will destabilise the cycles you talk about, causing the weather to become more extreme.

http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence
- NSS says:
  
  02:12pm | 08/01/13
  
  Bah! Sydneysiders ARE wimps. Melbourne has many days like this every Summer and Adelaide is even hotter by a couple of degrees usually the day before we cop 40ish temps. Does no- one remember our horrific fires?They were caused by prolonged drought and day after day of 38+ temps, culminating in a 42C conflagration, compounded by hot Northerly winds, directly from The Centre.
  
  You little Harbourside dahlings go running to Mama when you cop ONE stinker. Pfft! LOL!
  
  Reply
- DFB says:
  
  01:58pm | 08/01/13
  
  “I’m so tough, it was like, totally hot and I totally wrote an article about it.”
  
  Talk about 1st world problems
  
  Try playing a game of American football, in 15 odd kilograms of (non breathable) padding and helmet on a still, 42 degree day in Perth.
  
  You can drink 4 litres of water and sweat it all out again in an hour.
  
  Reply
Mike says:

04:02pm | 08/01/13

True, because you’re outside.

Although there is a beat up in the media right now about the tennis players “doing it tough” inside with the cooling fans and AC going. Pfffft - try Ali’s Thrilla in Manila and the Rumble in the Jungle, where temperatures were stifling on both accounts AND there was the humidity to deal with

The latest tennis advert makes me laugh, trying to compare tennis with boxing, like “tennis is harder”...pffft x 2…you don’t get punched in the face in tennis and you don’t get to sit and eat bananas and drink sports drinks in between rounds in boxing, so I think that boxers are tougher than tennis playboys.
- ahem says:
  
  01:55pm | 08/01/13
  
  does it work? cooking on the road part - I always wanted to try it
  
  Reply
- SKA says:
  
  01:50pm | 08/01/13
  
  This weather just seems like a typical Sydney summer to me… I’ve grown up in Sydney, haven’t we always (with the exception of the past 2 crap summers) expected to have a week or so where we had temperatures up over the 40s and couldn’t sleep and then at some point there would be cracker thunderstorms? I had pet rabbits as a kid and I used to freeze old milk bottles full of water and put them in the cage to help the rabbits cool down (they’d lie on top of the bottles) because otherwise the outside temps were unbearable for the poor little things despite being in the shade. Can also remember a few nights sleeping on the floor in the family room and running out in intervals across the night to dip in the pool to cool off before lying in front of the fan again. I’m sitting in an air conditioned office at the moment. On a normal day, it’s freezing in here. Perfect temperature in here today (probably because its struggling to keep up with the heat outside).
  Sympathies to Julie though! We Sydneysiders only usually expect a week worth of days that are unbearably hot - and those typically happen straight after new years when its typically a bit quieter.
  
  Reply
- Gordon says:
  
  01:35pm | 08/01/13
  
  Must be a slow news decade in Broken Hill.
  
  Reply
- Resonable says:
  
  01:27pm | 08/01/13
  
  Is this article trolling? I don’t accept this argument at all. Sydneysiders are not complaining that much.. Similarly to their coverage of the bushfires, the media is breathless about the heat, probably because it’s such easy news (as opposed to having to do some research or speaking to someone to cover a story). If you asked any Sydneysider about the heat in western NSW, they’d be automatically sympathetic. The simple fact is that today’s temp is far above averages and it’s unusual.
  
  Reply
- Diane says:
  
  01:26pm | 08/01/13
  
  Didn’t you know Sydney is the first city ever to experience 40 degrees? I live in western Sydney where 36+ is not uncommon in summer. Frustrates me when the report says - “a sweltering 29 degrees in Sydney today…..36 in the west!”.
  
  Reply
Robert S McCormick says:

04:23pm | 08/01/13

“Colin says” “Melbourne’s vile on the other 6 days too”
How dare you? As a city Melbourne is the most liveable on the mainland. Brisbane is hot, sticky & the residents aren’t much different.
Sydney’s only claim to fame is the Harbour & the Opera House both of which are stunning…BUT.. the People? God, Heaven & anyone else spare us from those arrogant, rude snotty-nosed gits.
Adelaide? I am only here because of my family here but would leave tomorrow if it wasn’t for them.
By the by I have lived in all three for a number of years in each and Melbourne is the best!
- Jim Moriarty says:
  
  01:24pm | 08/01/13
  
  It was absolutley vile on Friday in Melbourne.
  
  We were staying at my partner’s parents and they have no aircon. About 1am I convinced him we HAD to go back to the flat.
  
  There’s just something very undignified about two grown men lying in the loungeroom with wet towels on them attempting to sleep.
  
  Reply
SimonM says:

04:56pm | 08/01/13

Haha, I suppose Sydney is better then?

In fact, I would love if Sydneysiders though Melbourne was “vile”. Maybe then they would all stop moving here!
Colin says:

02:49pm | 08/01/13

@ Jim Moriarty

“It was absolutely vile on Friday in Melbourne…”

It’s not just Fridays; Melbourne’s vile on the other six days of the week too…
- Heatwave says:
  
  01:23pm | 08/01/13
  
  A friend of mine comes from the Middle East and tells me that high 40s - 50s throughout the year is normal for where they come from.
  Their country is pretty well off from oil and trading so unless you’re the poorest of the poor you start from an a/c’d room, into an a/c’d car, and drop off into an a/c’d building/office/shopping center.
  
  When he visited the last time he couldn’t take the heat EVEN with the a/c at the airport. It felt like a hellish heat wave during a normal day with warm searing air, hot breeze and dang it no surprises why the concept of a devilish hot hell came from the region.
  
  Apparently the heat here is pretty mild.
  
  I hope it doesn’t ever come to that for Australia because that’s when I’d be moving to Vancouver. And yes, that’s a joke (fingers crossed).
  
  Reply
- Debi says:
  
  01:18pm | 08/01/13
  
  It’s all perspective isn’t it?? Benzo we’re all worried about people who could be impacted by fires, but it’s nice to be able to have a laugh about a day we are getting through the best we can. I, for one, am every so grateful for air con in my office, and dreading heading home tonight to a house that doesn’t have it..Hang in there everyone! And while getting to Broken Hill is on my bucket list, I defintely won’t visit there in the summer (or spring or autumn) - it will be winter for this weather wimp!
  
  Reply
- Cath says:
  
  01:17pm | 08/01/13
  
  Love it!!
  This is the sort of summer I grew up in out in Western NSW and living through now. Temps in the 40’s are common - we’ve had plenty of them already this summer. (Last few years have been strange as they have been a lot milder - a couple of years back we had the floods and a lot of rain.)
  Will concede it is supposed to cool down to about 36 for the next couple of days but back into the 40’s for the weekend.
  BTW soles of feet do toughen up walking on bare ground but beware, catheads cause more pain than the heat - avoid those at all cost!
  
  Reply
- Warren says:
  
  01:17pm | 08/01/13
  
  More fool you for falling for the media BS.
  
  Reply
- Duffpimp says:
  
  01:15pm | 08/01/13
  
  Haha nice one
  
  Reply
- Robert S McCormick says:
  
  01:09pm | 08/01/13
  
  Isn’t it weird?
  Not a bleat out of those self-styled Climate Change “Experts” (Flannery, a paleontologist, & Garnaut, an economist, spring to mind) about the normal summer heat we are experiencing. Yes, it’s a bit hotter in Sydney than they are used to but for heaven’s sake it is (A) Summer & (B) Nature is no respecter of what pampered poppets in their air-conditioned houses, cars etc. prefer.
  The fire situation is very, very serious but we don’t see those running the show running around like headless chooks. They just set the rules, enforce them & deal with situations as they arise.
  An oldie (yes, even compared to me) here in SA told me the other day that the type of Summer we are having this year is just a return to the Summers we used to have back in the 1950s & before where high temperatures were common-place & pointed out that whereas in recent years we have never known from one day to the next where our weather pattern was coming from , this year we only have to look West to Perth & we can expect the same weather they are having in a couple of days & Melbourne (where I used to live & yes, I can remember) we used to see what the weather was like in Adelaide & could just assume that the same would be with us in a day or two.
  
  Reply
Pudel says:

05:32pm | 08/01/13

I know people who kept weather records for years, one farm has over 100 years of data, high and low and rainfall for every day for over 100 years. The weather bureau were very interested in it, but do not consider it official. Official records have not been kiept all that long only about 60 or 70 years. Weather is meant to have a cycle of over 100 years.
SimonM says:

04:52pm | 08/01/13

I don’t know where all this crap about “hottest days on record” is coming from….

I seem to remember a heat wave in Melbourne in 2009 where the temperture got to 48. Now everyone is complaining about low 40’s and they are all of a sudden the “hottest days on record”.

Definately confused….
Tim says:

04:43pm | 08/01/13

I hate pies,

No.

And LOL @ the irony.

I can understand why you would get confused, seeing as that’s what you and the vast majority of ‘skeptics’ do.
I hate pies says:

04:10pm | 08/01/13

Tim’s post has obviously been edited, because it actually said:

“Yeah who cares what “the scientists I choose to listen to” and “the data they manipulate” say.
Thirsty says:

04:07pm | 08/01/13

@ Robert
Yes, just a normal summer
7 days gone in January yesterday, 5 of these days were in the 20 hottest days EVER recorded….EVER
Just a normal January, after today, 2013 will have 6 of the 20 hottest days EVER recorded (potentially also taking top spot…)
After Friday and Saturday,, 2013 will have 8 of the hottest 20 days EVER recorded
Yes, just a normal everyday summer
Tim says:

02:59pm | 08/01/13

Yeah who cares what “scientists” and “data” say.

I know an old bloke who remembers what it was like back in the day, and he says this Summer isn’t even hot at all.
- james says:
  
  01:09pm | 08/01/13
  
  you julie need to get over it, you and your media mates who will kick anything up into a crisis and a fury. all media are to blame, its just a hot day, nobody else cares besides you guys making it seem like we care.
  
  Reply
- Dan says:
  
  12:54pm | 08/01/13
  
  Thanks Sue, in 50 years time when some of the Climate Change predictions come true I hope your grandchildren know that you were one of those who said it was rubbish and we shouldnt do anything.
  
  If 97 out of 100 doctors told me I should lose weight or i was in big trouble..I wouldnt ignore them and I doubt you would either and yet..when 97 out of a 100 Climate Scientists tell us we should do something you choose to call them liars, fabricators and other nonsense…I hope your grandchildren curse your ignorance as much I curse it right now.
  
  Reply
John says:

04:56pm | 08/01/13

That 97 out of 100 thing is a crock. The actual sample was originally very large but it’s been shown that it was significantly “doctored. As I recall it was a year or so back.
Sue says:

02:10pm | 08/01/13

Don: fat is such a great insulator!

So Dan, you are trying to tell me that the reaosn that Julia has not handed over air conditioners to the “asylum seekers” is that:
1. ACs are not good for the environment;
2. Asylum seekers need to bond with ordinary Australians who now cannot afford the electricity to run Acs; or
3. Julia has finally gained an afinity to Australians in that she too is jaded by the demanding BS that “asylum seekers” go on with.

As with climate change: I want my money back. And then I can afford to defend MY country, educate and provide for MY family and install private wind turbines and roof panels.
L. says:

01:58pm | 08/01/13

“Thanks Sue, in 50 years time when some of the Climate Change predictions come true..”

Some..? Whos? Which ones? The bad ones or the mild ones? As far as I can tell, there is a prediction to cover EVERY eventuality.
don says:

01:34pm | 08/01/13

Heat getting to you?
- Nat-nat says:
  
  12:52pm | 08/01/13
  
  Growing up in Perth before Air con became the norm, we did the “sleep on the bathroom floor” thing as well. After a week back in WA over Xmas, this weather is a piece of cake because, as you say, its only one day and there’s a nice little sea breeze coming through the city at the moment…quite pleasant really.
  
  Reply
- Tubesteak says:
  
  12:49pm | 08/01/13
  
  You’d eat an egg that was cooked on the road?!?! That’s disgsting. You don’t know where that road’s been! [insert Apple maps joke here]
  
  There is no way in hell I would ever live in Darwin. Middle of winter and it’s still 35. To hell with that!
  
  I like winter. I can always stay warm.
  
  Reply
iansand says:

05:42pm | 08/01/13

Bob of the freezing tropics - Reminds me of a time I was in Kununurra. I asked if it was safe to swim in the river. The motel owner said that the crocs might make it a bit exciting and then said it was too cold to swim anyway. It was a teeth chattering 32 degrees at the time.
Alicia says:

04:21pm | 08/01/13

It’s pretty rare to hit 41 degrees in Darwin. I don’t recall any day being that hot in the 8 years that I have lived here, though the bloody humidity certainly makes it feel that way!!

Darwin is at its best in the dry season - the days are beautiful. It’s my favourite time of the day. I love walking out the door in the morning and being greeted with a beautifully cool breeze for the first time each dry season. It sure beats getting out of the shower in the wet season, taking two steps and needing another one!

I am hoping for a good dry season this year, we had a nice one last year and my air con is looking forward to taking a break - so is my electricity budget.

I can sympathise with those down south.
Bob of the freezing tropics says:

04:14pm | 08/01/13

Don’t know what your talking about, Darwin has been the COOLEST capital for about the last week!! As for that shower without hot water you have to be kidding , after twenty years the cold water (at any time) becomes too cold.
iansand says:

03:07pm | 08/01/13

Look at the upside. In Darwin in the Wet you don’t have to turn the hot tap on to get a warm shower. The “cold” tap is warm enough all by itself.

But you break into a sweat just blinking.
S.C says:

02:11pm | 08/01/13

Darwin is fantastic in the Dry, then you get days like today in the wet and it is rainy and a cool 29. You have the amazing storms…
Then you get days that are 41 with 99% humidity and you think you might just drown on the air and you cannot move outside without brig converted in sweat after 30 seconds…
What’s not to love???
- Budz says:
  
  12:48pm | 08/01/13
  
  Outside was actually a nice change from our freezing office. But 15 minutes was long enough. I feel sorry for the people that have to work outside!
  
  Reply
AdamC says:

03:15pm | 08/01/13

Sure, it is unusually hot, but Colin is back to his trollsome ways, so at least something is still totally normal.
Colin says:

02:32pm | 08/01/13

@ Bec

Oh, dear; bit close to home my sentiment, hey..?

And, no, I have no need of car or road to get to work..! But, if it helps, I would gladly acknowledge the contribution of certain maintenance workers in assisting me to get there, if you like…
Bec says:

01:40pm | 08/01/13

@Colin, what, and tradies and road workers aren’t real people? Let’s see YOU get to work tomorrow without your car (that tradies built and maintain), and a road to drive it on. Idiot.
Colin says:

01:10pm | 08/01/13

@ Budz

“I feel sorry for the people that have to work outside!”

I wouldn’t; they’re just ‘tradies’ (ugh, I HATE that term), roadworkers, and other doubtfully sentient forms of life.
- Kika says:
  
  12:48pm | 08/01/13
  
  As a Queenslander I agree - toughen up Sydney!
  
  Reply
Sickemrex says:

05:35pm | 08/01/13

AFR, so we can exercise and cook dinner after work in conditions that aren’t broad daylight? So it’s dark at the kid’s bedtime?
Chris L says:

05:12pm | 08/01/13

Different from you southerners? Sounds like reason enough.

Besides it’s not an extra hour, no amount of insulting people’s intelligence will change that. Plenty of folk get up early to enjoy the morning before work during the Summer months, I don’t see why they should sacrifice this time for the sake of visitors.

You go fiddle with your clocks all you like. We’re sticking with the idea that midday is when the sun is at it’s zenith.
AFR says:

02:57pm | 08/01/13

On an unrelated topic - I’d love to whinge about Queensland’s inability to get with the program on daylight savings.

Spent the weekend on the Gold Coast - staying south of tweed, but each day crossing the border for something or other. It wasn’t too confusing as I set the car to QLD and my watch to NSW (my phone didn’t know what was going on). Why they want to deny themselves some extra sunlight in the evening will always be beyond me. .... I can only put it down to either a lower IQ, or they just want to be different.
Audra Blue says:

01:19pm | 08/01/13

I love living in Brisbane. The heat doesn’t bother me but the humidity does.

Thankfully I live on the top floor of my apartment building. So with all the windows open and lots of trees around, I get all the breezes, no matter how small and aircon isn’t necessary.
- Wayne Kerr says:
  
  12:40pm | 08/01/13
  
  Personally I love the heat. On a hot day when my wife turns on the air con I go outside and enjoy the heat. The only cooling system I need is a nice cold can of beer. Maybe I should move to Broken Hill?
  
  I must agree with teh author though. There has been a certain amount of “OMG!! it’s going to be hot tomorrow” panic in the media this week. Personally I’m not surprised, it is summer and it is supposed to be hot so there’s no need to panic.
  
  Reply
Wayne Kerr says:

02:58pm | 08/01/13

and for the life of me I can’t see anywhere in my original post where I joked about bush fires. I’ve been through devastating bush fires in my local area too Ally but I never acted like a pork chop
Ally says:

02:39pm | 08/01/13

Except, of course, that I’m currently in Hobart where the air is still smokey from the widespread bushfires still burning across my state. You know, the ones from the 40+ degrees and high winds of last week that have destroyed at least 100 homes and displaced around 1000 people.

Yes, people bitch and moan about hot days, but the hot weather last week and today are resulting in extremely dangerous bushfires. Not really anything to joke about.
Wayne Kerr says:

01:42pm | 08/01/13

yeah and it’s not as if bush fires occur on sub 43 degree days every year since I can remember…..oh wait

Don’t believe the hype Ally
John Dark says:

01:41pm | 08/01/13

Yes Ally, because that’s what uppermost in the minds of everyone complaining about the heat in Sydney. Don’t try to justify 4 million people having a sook because they’re hot for just one day. Please try to remember HEAT is different to FIRE.
Ally says:

01:12pm | 08/01/13

Yeah, such a panic over nothing! I mean, it’s not like extreme heat brings catastrophic fire conditions that lead to horrendous bushfires, widespread loss of property and potential loss of life.

Oh, wait.
- Benzo says:
  
  12:39pm | 08/01/13
  
  “So I reckon I’m well within my rights to say harden up Sydney”
  
  Nice Julie, so the people that get their houses burnt down and lost all there possessions slash homes should just harden up??
  
  Yeah real considerate…........
  
  Reply
Dan says:

03:57pm | 08/01/13

@LK - this is true, but how many are in Sydney? The article is about the whinging about Sydney’s heat.
LK says:

03:24pm | 08/01/13

Have to agree with Benzo. Those facing the destruction of lives and property to bushfires are really doing it tough. So lets not minimise.
Fred says:

03:01pm | 08/01/13

Get over yourself Benzo…I for one do not wish the tragedy of losing ones house to bushfires upon anyone. But Im sure the author, living in somewhere like broken hill sees and hears more about the ravages of mother nature than the meek who live in sydney.
Cut her some slack.
She is quite rightly pointing out the piss weak hooplah that has been buzzing in sydney all week about 1 day of 40+ degree temps. Its like the world is going to end.
Meanwhile, the rest of Australia gets on with its life.
Benzo says:

02:21pm | 08/01/13

No not at all Budz, I can take jokes no worries at all.
But don’t you think joking about this stuff when it’s 100% certain that people will lose their homes to fire in NSW today, as hundreds lost theirs in TAS yesterday.
Im gathering your the kind on person that would like light hearted “your mum” jokes to be read out at your mums funeral cause it’s all a bit of fun ay? (I mean no offence to your family btw)
There is a time an a place for for jokes and pulling fun, It doesn’t take genius to work out when it’s the wrong time…
Budz says:

01:05pm | 08/01/13

Oh Benzo. Take a chill pill. I think the heat is getting to you! It’s people like you that concern me a lot. You can’t take a light hearted dig at us Sydney siders. It is also because of people like you the PC police are out in force! You seriously need to be able to take a joke!
- Sundress In Sydney says:
  
  12:20pm | 08/01/13
  
  Ah, the spirit of Australia! Let’s have a dig at someone. Well, I had a lovely lunch. Went down the water and then bought a nice cold drink sitting under an umberella. I like a nice hot day. Lots of people dressed in their finest summer outfits. So you see, I don’t need to harden up. I just choose to enjoy what the day sends.
  
  Reply
sunny says:

03:12pm | 08/01/13

You should cruise out to Broken Hill and see if you still enjoy what the day sends. But watch out someone might fry an egg on your ass!
- Sue says:
  
  12:18pm | 08/01/13
  
  Nah…. you know it is really hot when the climate change brigade come out in force with their bleatings.
  
  Reply
Climate Con says:

04:03pm | 08/01/13

Climate Change, lol. Its called weather. Hello, tomorrows only 23 degrees in central vic. Guess we will just ignore that and wait for another hot day before saying “Climate Change”
sunny says:

03:25pm | 08/01/13

Sue - the world has accepted that climate change is real. Just telling you this so you don’t get left behind, is all.
Colin says:

12:37pm | 08/01/13

Yes, one hot day is Proof Absolutely Positive that The World is Going To End, and it’s all your fault, humankind…

Fry: This snow is beautiful. I’m glad global warming never happened.

Leela: Actually, it did. But thank God nuclear winter canceled it out.

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