Adelaide swelters through hottest Christmas in decades
A heatwave in southern and eastern Australia sends people flocking to the beach to beat the heat.
Monday 26 December 2016 06:16, UK
Adelaide is having its hottest Christmas Day in decades and has become the hottest capital city in Australia.
The Bureau of Meteorology says the temperature in the South Australian city reached 41.3C (106.3F) at 3.50pm.
"The last time when we had about 40C on Christmas Day was in 1945 and the temperature back then was 40.1C, so we've broken that record," forecaster Kenneth Cheung told AAP.
Beach goers - in Adelaide and other parts of the country - posted pictures of themselves sunbathing and trying to cool off in the water as a heatwave affected large parts of southern and eastern Australia.
:: UK could see warmest Christmas Day ever
Melbourne recorded a maximum temperature of 36.3C, which was the hottest Christmas since 1998, according to local news reports.
In Sydney, with a comparatively mild 27.4C, many crowded the popular Bondi Beach outside Australia's largest city.
Earlier this month, Sydney sweltered through its hottest December night in 148 years: 27.1C on 14 December.