El Nino Still Kicking Arse In Western Australia
( source: ABC Gascoyne )
Gascoyne communities endure double heatwave during worst drought on record in WA
^^With temperatures consistently reaching 46C, Jimba Jimba Station workers currently operate at night.(Supplied: Jimba Jimba Station)
In short: WA's Gascoyne region has faced two heatwaves in two weeks, damaging crops and forcing pastoralists to work at night.
Carnarvon and Shark Bay both reached 46C this week and locals say it has negatively impacted vegetation and wildlife.
What's next? Gascoyne Junction is expected to hit 47C on Saturday and remain above 40C for all of next week.
Amid one of the region's worst droughts on record, two extreme heatwave events in two weeks have left parts of Western Australia's Gascoyne reeling from the extreme weather.
Temperatures hit and exceeded 46 degrees Celsius in multiple locations across the region, which stretches from Exmouth to Shark Bay on WA's central coast, and inland to Gascoyne Junction, 1,000 kilometres north of Perth.
There's little relief in site, with temperatures at Gascoyne Junction forecast to hit 47C today.
Jimba Jimba Station owner Will Baston said he had been forced to work at night and sleep during the day due to the hot weather.
"As soon as the sun is rising the temperatures is soaring up in the high 30s and into the 40s pretty quickly by mid-morning," he said
"You're not having much respite from the overall heat, and whether it's your environment or metal instruments, it's quite hot."
Mr Baston said high temperatures during the day made it impossible to work with animals.
"We have weaned quite hard and taken calves off their mums to give the cows the best chance to survive through the summer," he said.
"And we will continue doing it."
Animals suffering:
Shark Bay, 827km north of Perth, recorded the state's highest temperature on Wednesday, reaching 46.8C.
The extreme heat comes after Shark Bay registered just 20 millimetres of rainfall in 2023, its lowest on record, and just 10 per cent of its annual average.
With the landscape parched, Shire of Shark Bay president Cheryl Cowell said animals had been swarming into town seeking water.
"The emus in particular are actually digging up the pipeline, which is poly pipe, so then they make a hole in it, and we're continually patching that out," she said.
"The water situation for those animals, whether feral or native, is critical at the moment."
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions Mid West Region Leader for Conservation Anthony Desmond said rainfall and good conditions 18 months ago meant species numbers had increased ahead of the drought.
"Native animals are reasonably adaptable and they're very good at surviving under very low rainfall conditions by accessing dew and moisture out of plants," he said.
"For something like a goat, this would be a very hard time where waters they would normally have relied on have dried up so they are having to find every little bit of water they can around the place."
Mr Desmond said the biggest concern was the long term impact the drought might have on the environment.
"Sometimes we underestimate that, because it's very hard to see because you are only seeing small number of plants that die out and over time that does change the environment."
Leaves burnt:
In Carnarvon, 850km north of Perth and the region's major centre, temperatures reached 46.6C โ its hottest day since 2015.
Biodynamic grower Wes Bassett is still assessing the impact of the extreme weather event on his crops.
"I even saw the mango leaves were burnt and that's unusual, so it must have been pretty hot and doing a lot of damage to the tree," he said.
"We probably have most of our mangoes off now. A couple more variety have bags on them, so we have a little bit of a chance there."
Mr Bassett said he had more concerns about his avocados.
"Not many of the trees can handle 46, so there's a bit of leaf burn and damage to the branches as well in the avocado."
The lows this crummer merely matched the standard 1981-10 avgs. 
