Australia sweats under record triple-digit heat — in the heart of winter

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BIRDSVILLE, Australia — The calendar may say it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, but for much of Australia, it feels way more like summer, just like its Northern Hemisphere companions with a record-shattering heat wave gripping a large part of the continent.

The town of Birdsville hit 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.7 Celsius) on Friday, which was not only a daily or monthly heat record for the town but set the all-time August heat record for the entire state of Queensland, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. Average highs for late August are in the upper 70s.

(FOX Weather)

And the city was in danger of toppling that record again Saturday.

Several other towns in Queensland set all-time August records, including Winton, Thargomindah and Longreach all reaching 100 degrees F (37.7 Celsius).

But the searing heat spread across multiple states, with high temperatures reaching as much as 25 degrees F or more above average in the interior parts of Northern Territory, South Australia and even New South Wales. Sydney reached a high of 88 degrees F on Friday.

(FOX Weather)

It's been days of hot winter temperatures for much of Australia's interior. The new records at the end of this week come just days after several cities set winter high temperature records last Saturday with Oonnadatta, South Australia reaching 103 degrees F.