Hot (Down) Under the Collar

The Melbourne Age reports that Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology shows the average national temperature in 2005 was 22.89, 1.09 degrees hotter than the average between 1961 and 1990 – and the hottest year on record. The Bureau further reported that:

“Since 1979, only four years have not been above the 1961 to 1990 average, the world standard for temperature averages. Australian average temperatures have risen 0.9 degrees since 1910, in line with global trends.”

To give that news some context, consider that the average daytime summer temperature in Darwin was already 42 degrees Celsius or 107.6 Fahrenheit.