Below you can see the new weather map colors for the Continent of Australia that has never been needed in years past . See the purple? That color represents 129.2 degrees or 54 celsius.
These temperatures are so hot that the warning has been labeled catastrophic. Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, has lost 500 square miles of forest since yesterday (1-9-13). Today the heat will break somewhat, but will intensify again shortly.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard made this statement "We do know over time that as a result of climate change we are going to see more extreme weather events and conditions.". I can only hope and pray that President Obama will lead on this immediately. We can not wait another moment. See Meteor Blades post from yesterday for rumors that the President is rumored to be planning a climate change summit. I called and will continue to call OFA to encourage him to do so.
Tornados of fire.
The fires are so widespread they're being monitored from space. Commander Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut currently on board the International Space Station, has been tweeting photographs of the smoke plumes visible from his vantage point