Crops suffer as temperature extremes affect Australia. by Steph Ball
Whilst Spring should be well under way in Australia, opposite ends of the country have recently seen some extremes in temperature.
Yesterday saw overnight temperatures falling to minus 7C in Perisher, New South Wales, and for the last week this area has been suffering from severe overnight frosts. Southeastern parts of Southern Australia have also suffered, and it is now feared that half of the grape crop may have been lost with a cost set at millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, across Western Australia, the maximum temperature hit 40.2C yesterday at Fitzroy Crossing with the average for this time of year expected to be nearer the mid 20C’s.
These hot conditions are forecast to migrate east across central and eastern parts of Australia over the rest of this week. Southern Australia see this as the final “nail in the coffin” for it’s barley crops, with most already devastated by the recent dry conditions.
With the high temperatures and strong winds forecast, many areas have been issued with fire warnings and earlier this week the ACT was told to brace itself for a heatwave.
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