Melbourne got to 45.1 today. That's the second-hottest day ever recorded in Melbourne; the record is 45.6.
We tried frying an egg in a frying pan on the concrete outside in the middle of the day. The butter melted pretty quickly but it wasn't quite hot enough to fry the egg, which just sort of dried out instead over the space of two hours.
During the afternoon we lost the electricity in my suburb. I had no idea how long it was going to be out for, so I quickly rushed out to buy some ice, took everything out of the freezer and put it in a big esky, then covered it with ice. Then I went shopping, taking a few ice lollies with me (the kind that come in plastic tubes and are then frozen before being eaten). I was going to a small but friendly bookshop and I knew that the chap running the shop had only a tiny fan to keep cool. I gave him one of the ice lollies that managed to stay frozen, it was much appreciated.
When I got home the power was back on, so I took everything out of the esky and put it back in the fridge. The ice was still mostly frozen, which was a good sign. I guess I could have left everything in the fridge but I was taking no chances.
I wasn't alone with the power blackouts. Other parts of Melbourne lost power as well, some to "load shedding" where they cut the power to reduce demand (this is the kind that I got), others due to the heat itself (this is the kind that caused a lot of disruption to Melbourne's trains this evening.
More info on the blackouts:
Melbourne blackout causes chaos
Now things are not so bad in Melbourne because a weak cool change came through late in the afternoon, dropping temperatures by 10 degrees. It's cooled down further to below 30 degrees, although it's going to take a while for my home to cool down as well. It is much more pleasant now, compared to the swelter of the last three days. Right now, 27 degrees feels quite cool.
Tomorrow's forecast for Melbourne is 35 degrees. Still warm, but not as scorchingly hot as it has been for the last three days.
Adelaide got to about 43 today and is going to get to 40 tomorrow. For both cities, the weather is still going to be hot for the next week, but maximum temperatures between 30 and 35 degrees (Melbourne) and between 35 and 40 degrees (Adelaide) aren't as bad as temperatures in the mid forties.