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Letters To The Editor
Hottest Day At
Canberra
Sir,—A newspaperman I
have admired for many years
is the man whom I call the
"Records" man, whose exact-
ing task it is to produce such
things as "the hottest day
since —," "the wettest month
since —."
I can well imagine the
strain as he feverishly con-
sults his records while the
Editor stands over him shout-
ing "Can't you do better than
1925?"—until he triumphantly
produces—1897 (which was
apparently a record year for
almost everything).
However, I think the fever-
ish pace of his work has
made him err in the Tuesday
issue (January 13) of The
Canberra Times in saying that
Canberra's hottest day occurr-
ed on January 25, 1945, with
a temperature of 103.4 de-
grees. I have always been
under the impression that we
had ten days in succession
over 100 degrees, with the
temperature reaching 110 de-
grees before breaking, in
January, 1939 (during the
bushfires). However, the 1958
Commonwealth Year Book
records 107.4 degrees on Jan-
uary 11, 1939.
HOT AND BOTHERED
Griffith.
[Our correspondent is cor-
rect in his claim that the
temperature of 103.4 degrees
on January 25, 1945, is not
the record for Canberra.
The highest reading ever
recorded was 108.4 degrees at
3 p.m. on January 10 (re-
corded officially as during the
24 hours ended January 11).
The Commonwealth Year
Book reported this maximum
of 109 degrees until 1943 after
which it was inexplicably
altered and is thus an error
which has run on from year
to year.
The course of the heatwave
in January 1939 was record-
ed in the following registra-
tions for the 24 hours ended
9 a.m. each day:—
January 7 99.2
January 8 101.7
January 9 102.8
January 10 102.6
January 11 106.4
January 12 108.4
January 13 103.7
January 14 107.4
January 15 105.4
January 16 76.0
The reading of 103.4 de-
grees on January 25, 1945, is
the highest recorded to date
at Fairbaim meteorological
station but overlooks the pre-
vious Canberra weather re-
cords which were taken first
at Acton and later at the
Forestry Bureau, Yarralumla.
Incidentally, the 1939 heat-
wave established the standing
maximum temperatures for
Adelaide, Melbourne and
Sydney, namely Adelaide
117.7 on January 12, Mel-
bourne 114.1 on January 13
and Sydney 113.6 on January
14.—The Editor, The Can-
berra Times.]
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