We've had some nice showers which has kept temperatures down to the early 30's or even 27C, but it is heating up again in the next few days. Much more so in Victoria than it is here. It was in the 30's here yesterday, and sweltering further north near Newcastle. IlF, how's Western Australia managing just now?

Temperatures down but humidity is up. I was moving today as well.

Had some healthy avarage temps today. 20"sF. Good enought o get the heater going in the shop, and do some projects.
It's supposed to dip into the negative single didgits tonight, and the wind is already getting a little nasty out there.
Flurries in the forcast off, and on through the next week, but nothing more than an inch if we are to believe them.
Meanwhile I still see some green, and brown on some parts of the lawn.

I have a confession to make...one that might cost me my Polar Bear Card.

I was out earlier this evening, hoping to find Mercury near Venus, but was a little stymied by the cold. The air temperature was -1F/-18C with a wind chill around -20F/-28C. It was a bit nippy and I gave in to the cold rather than walking a few blocks to try to find the planets (which were so low they're hidden by trees and buildings).

But that's just the appetizer. This week may have a few days where the temperature stays below 0F/-17C all day, with correspondingly cold nights (wind chills tonight may approach -35F/C even here in town).

Lookingat thos negative temperatures. It has reached 46C today here in perth. It hasn't reached 46C/115F since 1991 or something like that, It is horrible.

Ouch! IlF, 46C is seriously hot. It is supposed to be at least 38C on Friday in Sydney, when that heatwave may arrive here. I hope it heatwave passes quickly and goes to sea. Or that the monsoonal rain we have been dragging down into NSW keeps us a little cooler. The Adelaide people are doing it tough though, with catastrophic bushfires. The worst since the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires.

Yeah it was horrible. I just moved house on saturday and I have aircon. Very good tming. Though we drop to 30 tomorrow(thank goodness) and it stays at that for most of the week.

*joins Gazer on the extreme cold part of the world* We're not quite as cold here, but we got a layer of ice, followed by 3" of snow, followed by another layer of ice. The temp outside last time I checked was 8F. You polar bears can keep this weather. I'm ready for summer.

Did you get your snow, jo?

Not nearly the amount that was forecast. We only received a couple of inches. Still, very pretty.

The weather doesn't know what month it is here.

Our weather is so confused

Ditto! This past weekend we began with snow, which changed to freezing rain accompanied by very strong winds, and ended up as drizzly rain with temps up to 8C/46F. Last night the temperatures plummeted, bringing in an Arctic air mass. Some nights this week we may be experiencing -30C/-22F or colder. And the days don't get much warmer. That isn't terribly unusual for our area in mid-winter, but what is strange this season is the ping-pong weather from almost balmy to bitter cold and back again.

Looks like brown Christmas.
Speaking of which, A Merry Christmas to all my fellow Narnians out there
Eat with friends, and kin. Sing songs, and tell tales. As for myself, I might enjoy some libation from a giant's thimble, and sound silly for an evening

'Twas a brown-ish Christmas here. Well, a skiffle of snow was on the ground, but nothing like we had last year at the same time. And the bit of snow we did have only accentuated the furrows in the field behind us—quite the view! I hope your Christmas was special and fun, friend Wiggle ... including the thimble libation.

Wow, wagga and IlF, sounds like a warm Christmas season. But 46C, IlF? Yikes! That is nasssty. (And I hope your move went well. Hurrah for A/C!)

*nods* I can imagine the farmers were so glad for that rainfall, wagga.

I have a confession to make...one that might cost me my Polar Bear Card.

Ditto. It's frigid out there now. If it weren't for the strong wind, it could be more bearable, but, wow, that must drop the feel of the air at least 10°!

Yikes, fantasia, that's a slippery combination. Stay safe! It seems this huge cold mass has affected most of North America.

Wow, wagga and IlF, sounds like a warm Christmas season. But 46C, IlF? Yikes! That is nasssty. (And I hope your move went well. Hurrah for A/C!)

Actually, Christmas, itself, was quite mild in Sydney. Overcast and inclined to storms. We decided to have a picnic by the Nepean River, on Boxing Day, which is when our family Christmas worker was able to arrive, and the rain held off until well into the evening. That is what Boxing Day (AKA the Feast of Stephen) is for, incidentally. It was the traditional holiday and Christmas dinner for the servants who helped to make the rest of the community's Christmas so enjoyable.

But the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race, which commences on Boxing Day had some trouble with stormy weather, and they are also having such weather difficulties in Indonesia to the north of us, due to the Monsoonal weather there. Although, thankfully, temperatures are down to 27C here, the humidity makes it hard to breathe.

It seems like the weather troughs fan out across the continent from south west to north east, in almost a circular motion.

I find it hard to even imagine an air temperature of 46C (which is the highest temperature ever on record for the state in which I live, back in the Dust Bowl days of 1936). With the humidity added in, yes, but it sounds like you have that temperature and added humidity. Whew!

It's even harder to imagine right now, when temperatures here today struggled to reach 0F/-17C, and windchills north of here were close to -50F/-46C overnight (that's an effective temperature difference of 92C/165F - amazing!

Strong winds are driving fresh powder snow this evening, causing treacherous driving out in open areas where there's nothing to keep the snow from covering the roads.

Our low in town was -11F/-24C this morning, with similar temperatures expected for the next several days.

Weather geek trivia tidbit, given the discussion of heat and humidity: the American heat index and the Canadian humidex are different measures based on differing assumptions about the effect of heat and humidity on people (read more here).

^it went down to 31(max) today. A youtube video today emerged of some guy trying to cook at egg on the pavement when it was 46C. It worked, haha

I only wish it would be 25C and below all year. I must take holidays to the other half of the world whilst it is summer here.

Eggs must be the item of choice for weather extremes. Here they cracked an egg on the sidewalk and it froze solid in 5 minutes.

25C in the summer would be all right I suppose, if just a bit warm. But tonight's wind chills (-40) are maybe just a bit much even for me. A number of school districts have already closed or delayed starting for tomorrow so the kids don't have to risk frostbite waiting for the bus. At these temperatures it takes less than 10 minutes to set in.

Ah, in 6 months we'll be commenting on either the heat (here) or the cold (Down Under).

At least in perth are never at risk of frostbite at bus stop,but sunstroke/sun burn on the other hand...... I have had to wait at bus stop in all sorts of weather but snow. This includes hail, storms, extreme heat.

I have noticed once it gets to 35C a any amount of degrees above feel the same, heat wise. Does it get like that at any of the extremely cold temperatures?

I should mention that I have developed a skin back infection due to the heat and my sweat glands on my back. I have to take doxycycoline, which the pharmacist informed me increased skin sensitivity to sunburn. Considering how pale I am, I don't think it will make much difference. Already have to take an umbrella out and cover myself in 50+ spf if i go out during the day.

^it went down to 31(max) today. A youtube video today emerged of some guy trying to cook at egg on the pavement when it was 46C. It worked, haha

My grandmother used to say on hot days "it was hot enough to fry an egg on the footpath". I never heard of people freezing eggs on them though. I thought it was a waste of an egg - if it was still good.

Just a hint about the summer skin rashes. Obviously you need special care at the moment. But apart from baby powder and other helpful products there are some old remedies that used to help me. Soothing ointments include Calamine Lotion, which is useful for hives, eczema and all sorts of rashes. Another trick I've heard of is to use sliced cucumbers for cooling inflamed skin. And a third is to mix Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) with water, into a paste, and get someone to apply onto inflamed skin for an hour or so. Then try cool or cold shower and pat yourself dry carefully. Be careful about the soaps and detergents you use as these can cause skin rashes or can irritate them.