PERTH is sweltering through a record-breaking eighth heatwave of the
summer-autumn period as the mercury topped 40C for the second
consecutive day.
The Bureau of Meteorology defines a heatwave as three consecutive days at or above 35C.The record was reached during the weekend and today the temperature remained high, peaking at 40.6C.
Maximum temperatures for the previous three days were 38.9C on Friday, 39.5C on Saturday and 41.4C on Sunday.
It is the third time that Perth has recorded four consecutive days above 38C in March, the bureau says. The other occasions were between March 12-15, 1922 and March 7-10, 2003.
Only once before has Perth previously recorded two heatwaves in March and that was in 1988.
The bureau says the previous record of seven heatwaves in the summer/autumn season happened in 1977/78.
The mean daily maximum temperature for March 1-12, 2012 was 35.9C, breaking the previous record of 34.7C in 1979, the bureau says.
Temperatures are expected to drop down to 30C tomorrow and hover around that temperature for the rest of the week.
I thought it had been too hot for this Kiwi Chicky!