Experts warn of more high temperatures in Alice Springs in March

ABC NEWS (Australia)

It's been a scorching start to 2025 in the red centre with Alice Springs recording its hottest ever daytime temperature in March. Residents forced to work outside, and those without access to air conditioning are struggling to cope as authorities warn of further heatwaves in the coming weeks.

Transcript

00:00After a summer spent working on construction sites, tradie Gus Fitzgerald is exhausted

00:08from the heat.

00:09They're like a furnace, like an oven.

00:14It starts off in the day nice and cool, generally, and then by 12, 1, it's hot.

00:21It's hot for anyone.

00:22This year, Central Australians have been grappling with hotter than average temperatures, and

00:28earlier this month, the mercury hit 44.5 degrees, the hottest March day in Alice Springs

00:34since records began.

00:36It's character building, to say the least, I'd say.

00:40I didn't know you could get this hot.

00:42It's so hot.

00:43While Territorians are used to sizzling summer days, the Bureau of Meteorology says another

00:48record was smashed in February.

00:51We did record 13 days above 40 degrees Alice Springs, and that's a record in terms of the

00:57number of days above 40 degrees.

01:00It's not just tradies doing it tough.

01:02For those living in public housing and town camps, the searing heat can be difficult to

01:07bear.

01:08Each year, hundreds of households in Alice Springs are having their power cut when their

01:13occupants are unable to stump up the money to top up their prepaid power cards.

01:18If they haven't got money for power, they may not have money for food.

01:21So there's this vicious cycle.

01:23It's really energy poverty, and we really need decision makers across the Northern Territory

01:28and across the country to really take note.

01:31While the red centre heat is set to persist in the coming days, a change is on the horizon.

01:36I want winter so badly.

01:38I want rain and I want winter.

01:40An anxious wait for a cooler future.

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