BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 852 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014
BENDIGO was hit by two fires on Sunday, with at least one deliberately lit. Parts of Victoria fared much worse, but Maiden Gully (above) had a stark reminder of Black Saturday five years ago. – Photo: Andrew Perryman
HEAT IS ON
BY JOEL PETERSON
BENDIGO is on track for its hottest summer on record. A number of weather records have been broken since December, and more are likely to tumble. The city has sweltered through 13 days in which the temperature has reached or exceeded 40ºC, shattering the previous record of nine 40-plus days during the summer of 2008-09.
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Temperature records set to fall
Four of this summer’s 40-plus days came between January 14 and 17, including Bendigo’s second hottest day on record of 43.8ºC on January 14. The city’s record for the hottest average summer maximum temperature is also set to tumble, with
the mercury for the rest of February only needing to average 26ºC each day to beat the all-time summer maximum average record of 30.6ºC, set during 2001-02. At the time of going to print the city’s average maximum temperature was 37.1ºC in February,
and the Bureau of Meteorology climatologist Alex Evans says it looks like the record will fall. “The current summer-to-date daily maximum temperatures average is 31.6ºC at Bendigo,” Mr Evans said. “There is the chance that the
Tender moments – council splashes out – Page 3
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Continued Page 6
Trees still an issue – Page 5
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summer record of 30.6°C will be broken, even with daily temperatures for the remainder of February two degrees below average,” he said. January was also the city’s second hottest on record, with the average maximum temperature of 32.6ºC just shading the record mark of 32.9ºC set in 2009.