The highest temperature ever recorded in Australia is 50.7 °C (123.3 °F), which was recorded on 2 January 1960 at Oodnadatta, South Australia, and 13 January 2022 at Onslow, Western Australia. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Australia is −23.0 °C (−9.4 °F), at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales, on 29 June 1994.
For interest, Australia's highest official temperature is 50.7°C at Oodnadatta in South Australia on 2 January 1960 and the last 50 degree temperature in the country was 50.5°C at Mardie Station in Western Australia on 19 February 1998.
Highest temperatures ever recorded
Currently, the highest officially registered temperature is 56.7C (134F), recorded in California's Death Valley back in 1913.
Southern Australia has recorded significant heat over the past week with maximum temperatures widely reaching in excess of 35C (95F), as well as more than 10C above the climatological average.
The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134F (56.7C) in July 1913 at Furnace Creek, said Randy Ceverny of the World Meteorological Organization, the body recognized as keeper of world records. Temperatures at or above 130F (54.4C) have only been recorded on Earth a handful of times, mostly in Death Valley.
A wet-bulb temperature of 35 °C, or around 95 °F, is pretty much the absolute limit of human tolerance, says Zach Schlader, a physiologist at Indiana University Bloomington. Above that, your body won't be able to lose heat to the environment efficiently enough to maintain its core temperature.
At 50°C, a naked human would experience rapid and severe dehydration and heat stroke. In these conditions, a person could only survive for a few hours at most before succumbing to hyperthermia.
The lowest temperature on record in Australia was minus 23 degrees at Charlotte Pass, NSW on 29th June in 1994. The lowest in Tasmania was -13 degrees, which occurred at Tarraleah Village, Butlers Gorge and Shannon on the same day in late June during 1983.
The lowest minimum temperature was −23.0 °C (−9.4 °F) at Charlotte Pass on 29 June 1994 in the Snowy Mountains. This is also the lowest temperature recorded in the whole of Australia excluding Australian Antarctic Territory.
The national record is -23 degrees at Charlotte Pass in 1994 which is also the record for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. For individual states and territories, records haven't been broken for an even longer period of time. In Victoria, the record is -11.7 at Falls Creek in 1970 and Omeo in 1965.
Even after those first scorching millennia, however, the planet has often been much warmer than it is now. One of the warmest times was during the geologic period known as the Neoproterozoic, between 600 and 800 million years ago. Conditions were also frequently sweltering between 500 million and 250 million years ago.
Very hot. During this Mesozoic Era — from about 250 to 66 million years ago — the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere were around 16 times higher than now, creating a "greenhouse climate” with temperatures on average six to nine degrees warmer than today.
The two hottest temperatures on record are the 134 degrees 1913 in Death Valley and 131 in Tunisia in July 1931. Burt, a weather historian for The Weather Company, finds fault with both of those measurements and lists 130 in July 2021 in Death Valley as his hottest recorded temperature on Earth.
The mobile-friendly MyClimate 2050 tool shows almost all areas across Australia will experience longer and hotter summers, with temperatures increasing by an average of 2.32°C.
Australia is vulnerable to the effects of global warming projected for the next 50 to 100 years because of its extensive arid and semi-arid areas, and already warm climate, high annual rainfall variability. The continent's high fire risk increases this susceptibility to changes in temperature and climate.
1. Marble Bar, Western Australia. Marble Bar claims to be the hottest town in Australia. It holds the record for the highest average monthly maximum temperature, which is 41.5°C in December.
Is Australia hotter than India? India is closer to the equator as compared to Australia, and is therefore expected to be hotter. The average temperature in most of the interior regions of India is 90–104 °F. Whereas in Australia the average temperature in summer is 86 °F.
The town is an ex-Hydro village and now a residence for Inland Fisheries Services (IFS) and a Tasmania Police station. It is known for its exceptional fishing at nearby Great Lake and hosts several trout fishing events. Liawenee is the coldest permanently-inhabited place in Australia.
ICE AGE IN AUSTRALIA
During the last Ice Age average temperatures across Australia decreased by 10C, rainfall decreased, and cold, dry winds blew across the land. What was previously a place of plenty, with lots of water and food, became more difficult for the First Nations people.
Overall, Tasmania is colder than most of Australia's other states and territories. But on a local level, there is a significant variation in winter temperatures across Tasmania.
Sahul, during the last ice age (beginning 30,000 years ago and peaking 20,000 years ago) was cold – around 5 degrees colder – and much drier than present. Sea level was 125 metres lower and, as a consequence the continent was almost 40% larger than it is today .
For many dogs, outdoor activity at temperatures above 82°F can be dangerous, and for some dogs even temperatures in the 70°-77° range can be too hot.
It could be fatal. It is commonly held that the maximum temperature at which humans can survive is 108.14-degree Fahrenheit or 42.3-degree Celsius. A higher temperature may denature proteins and cause irreparable damage to brain.
One of the most ubiquitous sources of heat inside buildings is, of course, the human body. And buildings where, at least in ordinary times, people gather in large numbers have the greatest potential to put that stuffy, human-warmed air to good use.