kaleb777

The weekend of 21-22 Feb 2004 was HOT! In Brisbane on Saturday it was 41C. On Sunday it was 42C. Such temperatures are not uncommon in summer all around Australia but the difference in Brisbane is the 85% humidity.

If you get here late in the year, get air conditioning. In fact, get it whenever you get here even if you think you won't need it. Even if you just air condition the bedroom, you will find you need at least one room to escape the heat on a few days in summer. It's also uncomfortable trying to sleep when it's 28C at night.

Avoid air "coolers". They are useless and do nothing. You need air conditioning because they remove heat and vent it outside as well as removing humidity.

Amazulu

That'll cut the Medicare budget a bit.

brisbane bronco

Has anyone checked if Joh is still kicking then?

steandleigh

we're lucky that hub is a refrigeration and air-con engineer, so if we move to Oz and don't have air-con, I'll be kicking Mr's butt!!!

Agree, it's a necessity, rather than a luxury.

Never underestimate the need to be cool!!!!

Simone

http://news.com.au/common/story_page...55E952,00.html

Rising death toll linked to heatwave
Leah Moore, Tanya Moore and Brendan O'Malley
February 24, 2004

THE heatwave which swept southeast Queensland at the weekend may have contributed to more than 20 deaths.

The sweltering conditions are believed to be a factor in many of the 30 "sudden deaths" recorded by police over the past three days.

The previous weekend, police investigated only seven "unexpected" fatalities.

Julius Kovacs said the heat "definitely played a part" in the death of his mother, Terez, 73, at 1pm on Sunday at her Archerfield home.

Mr Kovacs said he had tried to make his mother drink water on Saturday night but she had refused because she sometimes suffered incontinence.

Temperatures hit a record 41.7C on Sunday, stretching health workers, hospitals and police although they won relief yesterday when Brisbane reached a cooler 33.3C.

At the weekend, the Queensland Ambulance Service reported a 53_per cent increase in its workload. Officers attended 339 emergency cases in Brisbane and the Royal Brisbane Hospital had to divert patients to other hospitals when 92 cases flooded the emergency department on Sunday.

Three elderly men were still fighting for their lives.

"Very clearly, the heat has an impact on people and there are underlying medical conditions that will be exacerbated by very significant heat," Queensland Ambulance Service commissioner Jim Higgins said. "But ._._. what causes death ultimately is a matter to be determined by the coroner and treating medical officers."

He said extra crews had to be brought in at the weekend from Toowoomba, Warwick and Nambour to cope with the demand in Brisbane.

An 11-year-old girl also was being treated for burns to 20_per cent of her body in Royal Brisbane Hospital after lightning hit a tree near her family's Byron Bay campsite on Sunday.

On the Gold Coast, the body of a man, aged in his 80s, was discovered by his son at their Southport home. Police said the man had been ill and the heat was thought to have contributed to his death.

The RSPCA reported one of its worst weekends in memory. Pet ambulance driver Beverley Betts said she didn't get home until 1am yesterday after being called out more than 60 times to rescue animals.

Within 48 hours she witnessed a dog left tethered in a back yard die of the heat, rescued a puppy from a boiling-hot car and was bitten by a distressed cattle dog.

"It has been the most stressful time because of the sheer urgency of every call and the volume of calls," Ms Betts said.

The state's infrastructure fared much better.

Queensland Rail said the only problem was a buckled section of track at Cambooya, south of Toowoomba.

Fears of afternoon rush hour chaos yesterday were averted when the maximum temperature failed to reach a forecast 37C, the point at which trains slow down in case of rails buckling.

Maximum temperatures in Brisbane should ease to 29C today and 28C tomorrow before climbing to 31C on Thursday. The mercury should also drop at Ipswich, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coasts and there should be scattered showers today and tomorrow.

_

QUEENSLAND'S heatwave smashed temperature records which had stood for as long as 1925.

The weekend temperature maximum broke previous February records set almost 80 years ago.

Brisbane's Sunday maximum of 41.7C was the highest February temperature ever recorded in the city.

On February 21, 1925, a 40.9C maximum was recorded.

Temperatures in Nambour reached 40.5C on Saturday, topping the previous February maximum of 37.3C, set in 1969.

Coolangatta's Friday maximum of 40C was well above the 1997 record of 33.9C and the Gold Coast also raised the bar from 36.7C in 1966 to highs of 40.5C on Friday and Saturday.

Texas surpassed its 1983 record of 41.1C on Friday with a high of 43C, while Double Island Point reached 35.9C on Friday, more than three degrees above its 1998 record of 32.5C.

Other places to break records at the weekend were St George, Thargomindah, Cunnamulla, Miles, Toowoomba, Tewantin, Gatton and the Brisbane Airport.

The heatwave also played havoc with Queensland's record minimum temperatures. Brisbane city's previous record February hottest low was 26C, set in 1982, but on Saturday the new hottest low temperature for the city was 27.9C.

Amberley was also above its average minimum temperature. Its previous lowest record for February was 25.4C in 1979. The lowest minimum for this month was 27.4C on Saturday. Other centres to record new minimum temperatures included Gympie, Nambour, Maryborough, Oakey, Dalby, Stanthorpe and Kingaroy.

plumber

While we're reporting news.......Remember the 500 death toll in France during the summer!

plum.

kaleb777

France is not much bigger than SE QLD but with 60 million people. 500 deaths is therefore pretty moderate.