Melbourne residents endured one of the hottest nights in the last 100 years, with the temperature reaching 37 degrees celsius by midnight and averaging 34 degrees most of the night. Some Australians escaped the heat by heading to the beach for a night swim, while others took refuge in air conditioning and at ice cream parlours. Many found it difficult to sleep. Complications from the heat also interrupted some train services, to the frustration of commuters. Meteorologist Richard Whitaker says the hot winds have brought in air from the middle of Australia. What happened, we saw a period of northerly winds that's been dragging down very hot air from the interior of Australia. The temperatures just didn't drop last night in Melbourne, in fact most of the night it was above 32 degrees (89.6 F), which makes it a very very warm night indeed by Melbourne standards. He said the phenomenon was not indicative of global warming, any more than chilly northern hemisphere temperatures suggested global cooling.
