How hot is Australia right now?

With the heatwave that is gripping most of Australia (and some deadly bushfires) the Bureau has had to add a new colour to its temperature maps. The purple patch in the middle represents 50+ degrees Celsius. Previously, black was the highest on the scale but not any more.

Surely the climate change situation is pretty serious when we need to extend the scale we use to measure heat!

Yesterday was Australia's hottest ever day - the national average maximum was 40.33°C and the average temperature across the day (including overnight) was 32.23°C.

2013 (despite being only a week old) already accounts for 6 of Australia's 20 hottest days.

And it's not done yet. "The air mass over the inland is still heating up" according Dr Jones of the Bureau of Meteorology, who says that we may also break the all-time high of 50.7 degrees.

[Top 20 hottest days as of Jan 8]
[Weather on steriods]