Australia, the land of heat, drought and no rain

[Kody]

It's now January and the "wet" is either very late in coming or it's not coming at all. The weather has dropped a big low pressure area on Qld about 300 klms inland and it hasn't moved for weeks. The heat has been in the high unbearable limits and of course, the huge green eyed horse flies are out and about. The latest temperature in Central Qld was 44 C or 111 F. Further out West it was 45 C, 113 F. In South Australia, the temp today was 49 C, 120 F and tomorrow it will be 50 C, 122F. Now that's getting into the ridiculous end of the thermometer. It hasn't been this hot that I can ever remember. It is so hard for the elderly and little babies to cool down and many people don't survive. The weather bureau has stated that the heat will continue for at least another week. Working on the T/D is impossible and even in the early morning, the flies are unbearable.
Winter is coming and it will be so good, it just can't come soon enough.

Kody

[angib]

I think the tee-shirt my Australian godson sent me for Christmas explains it all:

Straya.jpg (95.25 KiB) Viewed 1474 times

I particularly like the 'Mozzies the size of cars'

[eamarquardt]

Bummer.

Gus

[Kody]

I love the T shirt and it's all true. But the snakes and spiders cover the entire area. We use weld mesh to keep the mozzies out, it works great.

Kody

to everyone on TnTT, May you have a wonderful , prosperous and happy New Year.

[Mary C]

Boy according to that "T" shirt there is nowhere without its problems, So moving isn't a solution Except outa there, maybe the US or Canada. I live in the south ,Georgia US and we are plagued with "no see 'ems" and mosquitoes and heat and moisture . I can handle it for a while then it is air conditioned house for me. Boy I do understand!!! Happy New Year Kody and your family !!!

Mary C.

[Roo Dog]

Its nice down our way Kody.
The farmers have just pulled off a bumper harvest.
It is a country of contrasts when it comes to weather as are many places.
Beautiful cool morning here. I can hear a gentle rumble from the ocean in the background. None of the tropical bities about the place. No flies.
The sea breeze kicks in around noon like clockwork. No need for aircon in the summer and minimal heat required for the winter.
Its all good.
Wouldn't live anywhere else.
Take it easy.
RD

[eamarquardt]

Its nice down our way Kody.
The farmers have just pulled off a bumper harvest.
It is a country of contrasts when it comes to weather as are many places.
Beautiful cool morning here. I can hear a gentle rumble from the ocean in the background. None of the tropical bities about the place. No flies.
The sea breeze kicks in around noon like clockwork. No need for aircon in the summer and minimal heat required for the winter.
Its all good.
Wouldn't live anywhere else.
Take it easy.
RD

Sounds like home to me also. I can't remember the last time I had a bug bite here. No A/C, very little heat required, ocean breeze in the after noon, and the occasional "big one" (earthquake). Perfect.

Cheers,

Gus

Gus

[S. Heisley]

Here, in California, we're also hurting for rain, Kody. 2013 was officially listed as the driest year since they started keeping records, 119 years ago.
The weather persons are getting excited because we "might" get some rain next Tuesday. We need it. Many lakes are now mud holes.

[Kody]

We crawled into bed last night and turned on the fans, opened all the big glass doors and tried to sleep. The afternoon was hot, the smoke clung and sucked your eyes of every drop of moisture and clawed deeply into your throat. The ground was bone dry now, it was all dead ground with shades of grey and brown.

Then!!

At 2:30 am, the sky broke up in constant rolls of thunder. The lightning flashed through every room in the house and it began to rain! Oh what joy it was to smell the wet earth, to breath again the aroma of the eucalyptus oozing from the parched trees. It was really raining, soft at first then gradually building up to pound on the roof. The falling drops washed away every trace of the horrific smoke and it's foul odor. We could all breathe once more. Beautiful clean cool moist air that seeped into every pore of your skin.
By morning, the rain had begun to pool in the shallow hollows and soak into the dusted earth. After twelve hours, we had over two inches sparkling in the rain gauge. Looking out across the floor of the land could be seen a delicate soft hue of green. In just those few hours, the grass had revived from dead and brown to a thin velvet sheet across the land. How wonderful is that!
We are so thankful for the rain, our tanks are full once more, the grass is pushing away the grey and brown dirt and the birds are reveling in the coolness.
This has been the worst of the worst dry seasons even experienced in Australia. More beautiful rain is now expected over the next few weeks.

Kody

[eamarquardt]

We crawled into bed last night and turned on the fans, opened all the big glass doors and tried to sleep. The afternoon was hot, the smoke clung and sucked your eyes of every drop of moisture and clawed deeply into your throat. The ground was bone dry now, it was all dead ground with shades of grey and brown.

Then!!

At 2:30 am, the sky broke up in constant rolls of thunder. The lightning flashed through every room in the house and it began to rain! Oh what joy it was to smell the wet earth, to breath again the aroma of the eucalyptus oozing from the parched trees. It was really raining, soft at first then gradually building up to pound on the roof. The falling drops washed away every trace of the horrific smoke and it's foul odor. We could all breathe once more. Beautiful clean cool moist air that seeped into every pore of your skin.
By morning, the rain had begun to pool in the shallow hollows and soak into the dusted earth. After twelve hours, we had over two inches sparkling in the rain gauge. Looking out across the floor of the land could be seen a delicate soft hue of green. In just those few hours, the grass had revived from dead and brown to a thin velvet sheet across the land. How wonderful is that!
We are so thankful for the rain, our tanks are full once more, the grass is pushing away the grey and brown dirt and the birds are reveling in the coolness.
This has been the worst of the worst dry seasons even experienced in Australia. More beautiful rain is now expected over the next few weeks.

Kody

Pure poetry!

Cheers,

Gus