Angry Summer

[2] In January 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology altered its weather forecasting chart's temperature scale to include a range, colored purple, between 52 and 54 °C (126 and 129 °F).

[9] Central Australia experienced a lack of cloud cover due to low moisture levels during the hottest part of the year.

Heatwave conditions in Queensland and northern New South Wales were abruptly ended in late January 2013 with severe flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Oswald and an associated monsoon trough.

Extremely heavy rainfall continued into February as tropical low pressure systems caused havoc in eastern Queensland.

A paper in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate reported that heatwaves have occurred with increasing frequency over the previous 60 years.

[14][failed verification] Research conducted by the University of Melbourne and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Systems Science attributed the record temperatures to anthropogenic influences .

Locations of Bureau of Meteorology operated weather stations which recorded a temperature of 45 °C or above during January 2013.
Locations which recorded a temperature of 45 °C or above in January 2013