Another much published so called 'record' is of the longest run of consecutive days above 100f ( 37.78c ) reported from Marble Bar in 1923/24.
This factually erroneouns record has been reported in Encyclopedias, the Guinness World Records books, the Media and even the AU BoM for decades.
"World's Worst Heatwave – The Marble Bar heatwave, 1923-24"
From Wikipedia: The record for the longest heat wave in the world is generally accepted to have been set in Marble Bar in Australia, where from October 31, 1923 to April 7, 1924 the temperature broke the 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) benchmark, setting the heat wave record at 160 days.
The Marble Bar heatwave, 1923-24
“Day by day maximum temperatures at Marble Bar over the period 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924. At the peak of the heatwave – between late December and late February – many days approached or exceeded 45°C”.
The world record for the longest sequence of days above 100°Fahrenheit (or 37.8° on the Celsius scale) is held by Marble Bar in the inland Pilbara district of Western Australia. The temperature, measured under standard exposure conditions, reached or exceeded the century mark every day from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924, a total of 160 days.
Temperatures above 100°F are common in Marble Bar and indeed throughout a wide area of northwestern Australia. On average, Marble Bar experiences about 154 such days each year. The town is far enough inland that, during the summer months, the only mechanisms likely to prevent the air from reaching such a temperature involve a southward excursion of humid air associated with the monsoon trough, or heavy cloud, and/or rain, in the immediate area. This may sometimes be associated with a tropical cyclone or a monsoon low. In the record year of 1923-24 the monsoon trough stayed well north, and the season was notable for its lack of cyclone activity. (In fact, the entire Australian continent was untouched by tropical cyclones throughout the season, a rare event in the 20th Century). The rainfall recorded at Marble Bar during the record 160 days was just 79 mm, most of it in two heavy, short-lived storms that developed after the heat of the day. Only a further 12 mm of rain fell before the following December. Severe drought prevailed across the Western Australian tropics, and stock losses were heavy. With no rain to speak of, and minimal cloud, there was nothing to relieve day after day of extreme heat.
The highest temperature recorded during the record spell was 47.5°C on 18 January 1924. There have been higher temperatures at Marble Bar, with the highest recorded being 49.2°C, on 11 January 1905 and again on 3 January 1922.But temperatures in other Western Australian towns have been higher: in a remarkable late-season heat-wave in February 1998, Mardie recorded a maximum of 50.5°C (on the 19th) – the highest temperature in Western Australia, and the second highest ever recorded in Australia using standard instrumentation (Oodnadatta, in South Australia, recorded 50.7°C on 2 January 1960). Several other recordings above 49°C were reported in the northwest on the days preceding Mardie’s record, and at Nyang, the average maximum over the entire summer exceeded 43°C. As in 1923-24, very dry conditions accompanied the extreme heat.
But here's the thing, it is probable/likely that this sort of run of heat happens most years in the Middle East and the Sahel of Africa, its not remarked upon as being some sort 'heat record' in countries that use the metric system ie 100f or 37.78c is not an out of the ordinary recording. The 100f mark only holds some meaning in former British Colonies and in the US.
So in 2007, Mecca recorded 208 consecutive days ( from 18 April - 11 November inclusive ) at or above 37.78c. It is on the OGIMET website which draws directly from official reports, so I'd say it's legitimate.
Quoting directly from Dr Blair Trewin, the BoM's extremes climate bloke when asked if Marble Bar still held the record...
"Could actually be quite a challenge to resolve things now because we don't know what the record is, we just know that Marble Bar doesn't hold it. There's a World Meteorological Organization working group on climate extremes which I'll be referring this to, and I think this would fall within their brief, but I'm not sure how easy it would be for them to find the relevant information." unquote.
Another quote:
"Mecca certainly had a longer run than Marble Bar's. What we don't know is whether Marble Bar was ever a world record in the first place - the likely other candidates for such a record are in the Middle East and Africa, mostly in countries that have always used the metric system ( but often have a less than stellar observations network ) so wouldn't have paid much attention to a 100f threshold." unquote.
And this also from Blair:
"I've long thought that if the Marble Bar run of 160 days over 100f is to be challenged, the most likely candidate is somewhere in the Sahel which is far enough north to occasionally experience a total failure of the summer wet season ( other hot spots, like death Valley, Pakistan, Iran/Iraq and Algeria, are too cool in spring and Autum, bearing in mind that a 160-day run has to extend into at least one of April or October ). I've also wondered from time to time whether the 160-day run has been exceeded in a country that uses the metric system and wouldn't necessarily have noticed that 100f is a significant threshold.
The first station I looked at was Timbuktu, Mali. Unfortunately, as is the case with a lot of African stations, taking observations on 160 consecutive days appears to be too much for them, with heaps of missing data. I still have to look at Agadez ( Niger ) and a couple of Sudanese stations, so will be interested to see what they reveal ( if anything )
The best quote from Blair re this now likely discredited record:
"I suspect being responsible for officially breaking this news is going to make me as much persona non grata in Marble Bar as I already am in Cloncurry, thereby giving me another place I'll have to avoid on my forthcomming round-Australia trip...." unquote.
The right wing shock jocks etc with their knickers in a knot...
"Outback Australian town ‘robbed’ of 100yo world record due to figure fudging."
'A small town in outback Australia has been “robbed” of a 100-year-old world record due to apparent figure fudging by the Bureau of Meteorology.
The world’s longest heatwave was recorded in outback Western Australia in 1923/24.
Marble Bar, in between Exmouth and Broome, saw temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7°C) for 160 consecutive days.
But the Bureau of Meteorology has now adjusted its records, stripping Marble Bar of the record and “cooling history”, according to Alan Jones.
Dr Jennifer Marohasy tells Alan it’s been done to suit the global warming storyline.
“It does rob Marble Bar of that heatwave record but it also generates what they want, which is a warming trend.
“If you look at the actual historical data it actually has a cooling trend but they remodel and they get a warming trend.”
www.2gb.com/outback-australian-town-robbed-of-100yo-world-record-due-to-figure-fudging/
