Haywire weather in Australia

[Fuzz]

Scorching heat in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne, while northern WA is facing flood. Northern QLD is also having the worst flood in living memory, affecting the area of France and Germany combined. Mt Wellington had its snow on Boxing Day in the middle of Summer. Welcome to the new reality.

On a closer level, are you alright where you are Burb? I know that you're up in the highland, but all that flooding in QLD is certainly worrisome.

[Burbage]

All right up here, If we flood it'll mean that the continent of Australia will be about the size of Ireland. All that flooding is way south of us. We had a small cyclone on Christmas day and got about 120mm of rain in one day, no problem.

Australia has gone through a long period of drought, something that was going to change eventually, but it didn't stop people building houses on the floodplain.

[Morrolan]

... but it didn't stop people building houses on the floodplain.

for some reason it never does. even in countries where flooding is normal.

[Kooky]

'kinell it's hot. Reached late 30s in the city today so dread to think what it was out West.

Great time to have no aircon working in the office

[Kooky]

I thought that was hot. 42C here for much of yesterday! We stayed in all day with the blinds down and aircon on.

Thankfully it's due to break today but now we have fires in NSW and Perth. So different from last summer.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/s ... 6000835796

[Pinklepurr]

You'll be chilling soon enough...we are almost (just almost) thinking of putting the heating on this morning...bit different to the 44 it was a few days ago.

[Mr Oz]

Gawd, Weather up here in the flood zone is like singapore on a really bad day. Sauna or what!

[Scrummy Mummy]

Hot but a bit breezy here today. Bush fires the other end of Perth.

(Digressing onto blinds: we've been getting quotes for 7 venetian blinds and they ain't cheap! Do they really make that much difference in terms of keeping out heat and cold? More so than curtains?)

[Morrolan]

Hot but a bit breezy here today. Bush fires the other end of Perth.

(Digressing onto blinds: we've been getting quotes for 7 venetian blinds and they ain't cheap! Do they really make that much difference in terms of keeping out heat and cold? More so than curtains?)

which? the horizontal metal ones or the vertical ones?

the general rule is that when the window covering is on the inside, so is the heat. the horizontal metal blinds act as radiators and won't do much other than keep the glare out.

a better solution would be either outside blinds or shading or woindow tinting.

[Bender]

Blinds don't do much for thermal efficiency. To keep heat out, shade the windows from the outside. To keep heat in, double glazing or heavy/lined curtains with pelmets are the go.

This website may be of interest if you're interested in window efficiency, and this manual (see section 4.10 - Glazing) is a must-read if you want to make your home more environmentally sustainable.

[Mr Oz]

CNN seem to have a good handle on the weather. Pity they are not very good at geography.

[Pinklepurr]

Argh...venetian blinds...I ripped every one of them out of our house when we renovated. Can't say I notice any heat difference now with curtains...I just hated cleaning the damn things! No matter what type of venetian they are they catch dust...and are a total pain to clean. The only remaining blind I have got put in the window in the garage! Sorry, I know they can look really good, but they are just a pet hate...

For cooling purposes, outside blinds make more difference than any other, and the newer ones don't block the breeze. We have the older canvas ones on our place and they still work just fine, but a few years ago we put the newer type on my parents place and they were really good and even looked quite good (I hate our canvas ones...all those stripes...yuk).

Thanks for those links Bender, some interesting info in there.

[celis63]

Venetian gondolas are a great way of decorating your home. They keep out unwanted Italians and help maintain the right room temperature. They are necessity in the summer as they keep the room protected from unwashed tourists. Goldolas blinds also ensure that you get the right amount of privacy when required. They can also withstand high temperature and humidity and are reasonably priced.

[Morrolan]

scumbag spammer troll...

[Monkey Hanger]

Just one Cornetto.....

[Fat Bob]

CNN seem to have a good handle on the weather. Pity they are not very good at geography.

I agree: Queensland isn't a small island at the bottom, it's the big island: it's all the Queen's land!