Australia burns in scorching heat wave with temperatures soaring to 120 degrees

Parts of Australia suffered record temperatures near 122 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday as the country sweated through a prolonged heat wave even as Bitter cold blanketed much of the US.

The rural towns of Hopetoun and Walpeup in Victoria state recorded preliminary high temperatures of 120 degrees which, if confirmed overnight, would surpass records set on the day in 2009, when 173 people died in the state’s devastating Black Saturday bushfires.

No casualties were reported from Tuesday’s heatwave, but Victorian authorities urged caution as three bushfires got out of control.

Melbourne, the state’s largest city, also came close to its hottest day. Perhaps nowhere was the scorching heat more evident than at Melbourne Park, where the usual crowds that thronged outside the Australian Open tennis tournament were reduced to a ghost town as temperatures soared.

Inside, organizers enacted extreme heat protocols, forcing the closure of retractable roofs in main stadiums and the postponement of games on outdoor fields. During Tuesday’s quarterfinals between Aryna Sabalenka and Iva Jovic, the last match played under a scorching sun, the players placed ice packs on their heads and portable fans on their faces during breaks in play.

Organizers provided cushions to photographers filming the match to prevent heat-related injuries when they sat and covered their cameras with towels to prevent devices from malfunctioning in the heat or burning their hands. Fans lined up to stand in front of giant fans or sought shelter in air-conditioned areas of the venue.

Crowds at the event, which has so far seen record participation days, fell from 50,000 in Monday’s daytime session to 21,000 on Tuesday, as people heeded health warnings from officials and stayed home.

Temperatures were expected to drop on Wednesday, although the heat wave was expected to last into the weekend. The heatwave followed another earlier this month amid one of the hottest summers in Australian history.

On Monday, parts of the states of New South Wales and South Australia hit record temperatures, some surpassing records set during a destructive summer of forest fires in 2019. Then, as now, temperatures approached 122 degrees in some places.