Marble Bar, Western Australia
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Marble Bar () is a town and rock formation in the Pilbara region of north-western Western Australia. It is well known for its extremely hot weather.
The town was officially gazetted in 1893 following the discovery of gold in the area in 1890. The name Marble Bar was derived from a nearby jasper bar, known as Marble Bar, which runs across the bed of the Coongan River.
It had a railway connecting with Port Hedland up until the early 1950's, which can be seen as a narrow gauge precursor to the network of standard gauge iron-ore railways that have since been created across the Pilbara.
[edit] Climate
It is believed by some to be the world's hottest place, having once recorded a period of 160 days from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924, where the maximum temperature reached or exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius), on each and every day. During December and January, temperatures in excess of 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) are common, and the average maximum temperature exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit during 6 months each year.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | ||
| Mean maximum temperature | 41.0°C 105.8°F |
39.8 °C 103.6°F |
39.0°C 102.2°F |
36.0°C 96.8°F |
30.7°C 87.2°F |
27.1°C 80.7°F |
26.8°C 80.2°F |
29.6°C 85.2°F |
33.9°C 93°F |
37.5°C 99.5°F |
40.5°C 104.9°F |
41.6°C 106.9°F |
35.3°C 95.5°F |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean minimum temperature | 26.1°C 79°F |
25.6°C 78.1°F |
24.7°C 76.4°F |
21.3°C 70.3°F |
16.6°C 61.9°F |
13.1°C 55.6°F |
11.8°C 53.2°F |
13.3°C 55.9°F |
16.7°C 62.1°F |
20.3°C 68.5°F |
23.6°C 74.5°F |
25.5°C 77.9°F |
19.9°C 67.8 °F |
|
| Highest Maximum Temperature | 48.8°C 119.8°F |
47.8°C 118°F |
45.7°C 114.3°F |
42.5°C 108.5°F |
39.5°C 103.1°F |
35.8°C 96.4°F |
34.1°C 93.4°F |
37°C 98.6°F |
41.9°C 107.4° F |
45.6°C 114.1° F |
47.0°C 116.6° F |
47.7°C 117.9°F |
48.8°C 119.8°F |
|
| Lowest minimum Temperature | 18.9°C 66°F |
14.1°C 57.4°F |
15.0°C 59°F |
12.3°C 54.1°F |
7.2°C 45°F |
2.0°C 35.6°F |
2.2°C 36°F |
4.4°C 39.9°F |
7.3°C 45.1°F |
11.5°C 52.7°F |
15.4°C 59.7°F |
17.0°C 62.6°F |
2.0 °C 35.6 °F |
|
| Mean Total rainfall | 76.2 mm 3 in |
87.8 mm 3.5 in |
56.6 mm 2.2 in |
21.1 mm 0.8 in |
23.3 mm 0.9 in |
23.3 mm 0.9 in |
12.0 mm 0.5 in |
6.6 mm 0.3 in |
0.9 mm 0.03 in |
3.9 mm 0.2 in |
9.2 mm 0.4 in |
39.1 mm 1.5 in |
359.9 mm 14.2 in |
|
| Source: [1] | ||||||||||||||
Unlike other notoriously hot locations like Death Valley in the United States, Marble Bar does not have any remarkable topographical features that lead to climate anomalies (such as the extreme de-elevation of the Death Valley region, and other similar regions in the Middle East).
An ironic locality nearby known as North Pole (21° 05' S. 119° 22' E.)no doubt for its heat, is the location of rock formations that were for a while considered to have evidence that put the dating of life on earth back a few million years, due to stromatalite like objects in particular sequences.
[edit] Reference
- Edwards, Hugh Gold dust and iron mountains : Marble Bar & beyond : the story of the Eastern Pilbara Swanbourne, W.A. : H. Edwards, 1993. ISBN 0-646-14570-3 "Produced by the East Pilbara Shire for the centenary of Marble Bar, 1893-1993".
