SA village breaks weather record with temperatures soaring to 54°C

[daveza]

SA village breaks weather record with temperatures soaring to 54°C - or not?

Vioolsdrif, a village in the Northern Cape, has broken a new record for the highest temperature in the country — reaching over 50 degrees Celsius.

www.timeslive.co.za

Vioolsdrif, a village in the Northern Cape, has broken a new record for the highest temperature in the country — reaching over 50 degrees Celsius.

SA Weather Service forecaster Mbavhi Maliage said Vioolsdrif first broke the record in 1995 with a maximum temperature of 46.2°C.

“On Thursday, it reached a new record of 50.1°C and then it broke its own record again on Friday by reaching 53.2°C, which was rounded off to 54°C,” Maliage said.

She said the area has been experiencing hot temperatures for a while.

“There was an upper high weather system situated over the area that resulted in an increase of temperatures, which is the reason we had a heatwave condition in parts of SA,” Maliage said.

She said Vioolsdrif would remain hot but the temperatures would decrease by about 15°C in the next two days.

Planet Earth and Storm Report SA reported that the temperature recorded at the Viooldrif weather station is now the highest yet recorded anywhere in Africa in the modern era.

 

[Hamster]

by reaching 53.2°C, which was rounded off to 54°C

Wut? That's not how math works

 

[ponder]

Wut? That's not how math works

Decolonised math...

 

[cenredash]

Wut? That's not how math works

This isn't math. In football when they score on 10 seconds it's marked in the 1st minute. Some things you do round up. Because at 53.2 degrees it's beyond 53 degrees.

 

[zophas]

Wut? That's not how math works

54 degrees is just as f**cking hot as 53 degrees. Nitpicking.

 

[Hamster]

This isn't math. In football when they score on 10 seconds it's marked in the 1st minute. Some things you do round up. Because at 53.2 degrees it's beyond 53 degrees.

And if they had said rounded up I wouldn't have quoted it.

 

[Gordon_R]

The model forecast for Thurs 28th showed extremely hot temperatures for the entire western half of SA. Of course models cannot get down to actual town level details. Vioolsdrift is in the Orange River Valley in Namaqualand, on the border with Namibia. Someone has already updated the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vioolsdrif

 

[Jopie Fourie]

“On Thursday, it reached a new record of 50.1°C and then it broke its own record again on Friday by reaching 53.2°C, which was rounded off to 54°C,” Maliage said.

Our country has a serious problem with maths. Now I am wondering about the accuracy of the information they released in this article. I wonder if we have someone who actually lived there and can confirm the information, else this is only a joke.

 

[ForceFate]

I bet it's 53.7°C rounded off to 54°C.

 

[Bryn]

Many, many years ago I did a 7 day Orange River canoeing trip with my family along the border.

It was pretty awesome, but one interesting thing was that the 45-50 degree temps every day weren't that bad at all. Humidity was zero and it just felt generally hot. Not scorching at all.

 

[TheChamp]

I bet it's 53.7°C rounded off to 54°C.

Could well be, but never make such a mistake on a forum full of Sheldons, you'll regret it.

 

[Gordon_R]

These kind of records require careful investigation to establish the facts. This is a minor weather station, that probably does not record continuous data, and definitely needs to be calibrated to check for instrument errors.

The available online information is very limited, but indicates that the record was Sat 30th (not Thurs 28th as I suggested). See: http://ogimet.com/cgi-bin/gsynres?ind=68411&decoded=yes&ndays=2&ano=2019&mes=11&day=30&hora=12

 

[Thor]

That is the temperature of hell.

 

[Grubscrew]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1200435051990847491

?

 

[krycor]

Math.ceil

 

[Solarion]

When you step outside for a smoke break

 

[WaxLyrical]

Half of this thread has to do with a math error of .7d when the real worry is the actual fckn temp.

 

[Aghori]

I suspect it wasn't really 54C. The weather station needs to be checked.

 

[Knyro]

Thank goodness for low humidity, at least in the interior of SA. These temps would be unbearable with the crazy high humidity of East Asia for example. Hitting 98%+ easily during summer.

 

[The Trutherizer]

I've experienced 52C. Poor bastards.