Hot Weather again

The current temperature at Barnsley is 37° with a 2km/h wind and 22% humidity. Oddly enough that's bearable if I stay inside with the fans on (I swapped the pedestal with the floor fan and the study is cooler now). But I won't be going out side much. No shopping today!

The one week forecast is (taken from OzForecast)... Day Max (C) Min (C) Wind Dir. Rain (mm) Thunder Storms OCF WATL GFS Today 36 23 ENE - - - - Tomorrow 36 21 E 1.0 - - - Monday 30 22 S 4.0 - - - Tuesday 28 21 SSW 8.0 5.1 11.3 Isolated Wednesday 25 19 SSE 5.0 0.9 5.6 - Thursday 23 16 SSE 0.6 ? 19.5 - Friday 24 16 SE 1.3 ? 7.4 -

                                    ...which is a huge relief, if it happens!

The heatwave that dominated most of last week is still a threat, as listed at this Google News page. Things that struck me:

• Ambulance crews in Victoria will today be on high alert, trains in NSW will slow down in case the heat causes tracks to buckle, and police in South Australia will be monitoring known fire bugs.
  Fire-fighters across the three states, and in the ACT, are bracing for a devastating weekend as record high temperatures, gusty winds and parched earth combine to produce an unprecedented fire danger.
  Sydney is today blanketed in smoke carried from a bushfire on the NSW central coast.
  In Victoria, a fire in the Bunyip State Forest east of Melbourne breached containment lines overnight, much sooner than expected. 
  
  
  meanwhile...
  
  

• The Queensland State Emergency Service is still rescuing sick and elderly residents from homes in Ingham as flood waters slowly subside.
  Sixty per cent of the state is now disaster declared and while rains have eased in some areas, a large low pressure system off the coast is expected to generate more heavy falls in coming days.
  The Herbert River in Ingham is dropping slowly with the latest forecast predicting the flood level will decrease a metre by midnight. More heavy rain is forecast between Townsville and Mackay, but the threat of another cyclone off Cairns has eased.
  The Australian Army has begun flying fuel into Ingham, as the north Queensland town faces its fourth day cut-off by flood waters. The Bruce Highway is still cut to the north and south of Ingham.

I did see news items on the TV about Crocodiles and snakes being spotted in the flooded areas. Good fun!

Here's yesterday's Maximum temperature map:

Don't'ya just love Australia's climate?

44 °

I left my travel clock outside on top of the rubbish bin for 10 minutes. It has a built in thermometer but normally it only gets to measure the temperature in my purse or backpack. When I checked it just now, it showed 44 °C (and only 34° inside).

Glad I'm inside. Also glad that when I went out yesterday I left the dogs in the house, where it was cooler.

. . .

Been a funny day today.

I woke up with the intention of doing four pages for Tales of the Galli but did four for Return to Second Life instead. The difference was that I couldn't sweat all over the artwork on the second, as it's mostly made from screen shots of Second Life. If I'd started drawing on paper I would have dribbled all over it, plus I had a headache for most of the day.

Spent a lot of time in front of the PC today, partly I think because the study's the coolest room in the house and I didn't have to move much. But, considering that my sinuses are making noises that sound like bad shortwave reception,  I think it's time to turn the PC off, have a late dinner and fall asleep in front of a TV.

My first Poll

[Poll #1345314]

Purely because I'm bored. Post comments about your choices if you like, or questions about who some of the characters are. All but one of these characters are fictional. Can you guess which one isn't?