Geraldton has endured a record-breaking scorcher this week, including Thursday’s peak of 46.5C which made it the hottest February day in the city for 39 years.
With the help of SPF 50+, wide-brimmed hats and some hard-working air-conditioning, Geraldton residents combated the heatwave, which included two of the hottest January and February days on record.
Geraldton was WA’s hottest place on Thursday, according to Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Luke Huntington.
The hottest day on record for Geraldton in January was set on January 11, 2014 when temperatures reached 45.8C, but on Wednesday Geraldton tipped over to 45.9C.
On Thursday, Geraldton experienced its second hottest February day on record, which was set on February 20, 1985 at 47.3C — making this week’s 46.5C the hottest February day in almost four decades.
Though the beach is synonymous with a hot day, it was too hot to grace the sand and surf on Thursday — making for a ghost town across Champion Beach and along the foreshore and children’s water park.
It’s a baptism of fire in more ways than one for the thousands of children starting the 2024 school year this week in scorching conditions.
Mr Huntington said though Thursday was forecast to be 43C, the late onset of the sea breeze meant things continued to heat up and would do so again on Friday, which is forecast to be 41C.
“Depending on how early the sea breeze comes in, it can reduce the maximum temperature a bit — it held off a bit today so that’s why it got a bit hotter,” Mr Huntington said.
In Geraldton, the average maximum temperature in February is 32.8C.
Mr Huntington said there had been persistent heat recorded for some time but the heat was only just hitting the coast.
He said an offshore trough carried hot north-easterly winds from the Pilbara down the coast and a delayed sea breeze contributed to the spike in temperature on Wednesday afternoon.
The likelihood for Friday to soar above the forecast temperature of 41C is high, said Mr Huntington, if the breeze held off again.
While the office workers of Geraldton stayed cool thanks to air-conditioning, spare a thought for Rob Dines and his team at Ocean Air, an air-conditioning installation and service company.
“When 40,000 people turn their air-cons on during a heatwave, there’s always going to be the unlucky ones who figure out it’s not working,” Mr Dines, the managing director, said.
During summer, Ocean Air and the 12-man team on the road are working from Dongara up to Northampton.
“We’re probably installing a dozen and repairing around 20 every day. But it’s like chalk and cheese compared to winter,” he said.
During summer, Mr Dines has to monitor the forecast to prioritise tasks to ensure they have enough manpower to reach everyone in dire need of an air-con repair.
“It’s feeling a lot busier than last year, we’re certainly seeing growth year on year, but you can really feel the difference this year,” he said.
Dave Chapman, a contractor with Ocean Air, said the work was consistent from October onwards, but February and March were some of the busiest months in the business.