This time of the year is the season of strong easterly winds.
The dry cold season has ended and the continent is heating up. The Easterlies blow right across the north and collect the heat.
As they warm, they blow faster and, in the mornings, have been reaching speeds of 80-100 Kmh. Large trees are bending and losing branches. small trees in unprotected areas are being uprooted and can block roads. Sand and dust are blown into the air and visibility is reduced and eyes become irritated.
As the day heats towards its maximum of around 45C the wind begins to moderate.
I was walking down a road with the wind and only just got out of the way of this very prickly beast which was taking a journey of its own!
Soon the winds will moderate as the early thunderstorms bring some relief from the current heat. They will replace the dry 45C’s with humid 38C’s. Then, come mid December, the real heat will strike as the temperatures climbs into the mid and high 50C’s. Humid with the monsoonal clouds and rain the weeks from mid-December to mid February are a test for everyone. The occasional cyclonic visitor also adds to the interest.
Of course, to the West there are five major rivers between us and the coast. Once they have flooded and washed the road away, we can be cut off from all road travel for several months. To the East, heading into the centre of Australia, there are no major rivers but the rain can pool into great lakes between the dunes. That eastern track is where the supplies will have to come across once the “wet” begins. Unless it is too wet. Then we may have to have fuel (for the generators to power the air conditioners and fridges) and food air-dropped.
And just to make life really interesting, the Jilas (fast hunting snakes of a variety of species, exceedingly venomous) have begun to move and yesterday I saw a centipede track in the dust. No scorpions yet – - –
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And you wonder why I live in the South-West???? I’ll stick to photos of your desert, thank you!
it sounds marvellous! I wanna visit
Too hot and humid for me, and I don’t care for venomous creepy, crawly things. Think I wil stay here. Is the tumbleweed native to Australia, or is it an import? We had them on the prairies where I grew up. Don’t know if they are native there, either.
Answered my own question. According to Wikipedia tumbleweeds are not native either to the US or Australia.
@ Buff, my pictures are but a poor representation of a magnificent, though harsh land.
@ Truce, seriously? Hmmmm
@ Silverstar, I think you need a special gene to live here
Oh, and the “tumbleweed” we have in our desert is a native tomato bush. It just rolls around. It has no seeds, they were in the, often edible, bush tomatoes. This rolling beast is a pincushion of prickles! This is one of the many species of Solanaceaen which are native to Oz.
How long has that gecko been up there!?!!!!! ……. I’m starting to worry about my faculties as well as my facilities ……..
Most of the time he is hiding just above the top of the screen – he only comes down when there are a lot of insects around.
Great description of gecko behaviour, Archie.
We have a large kitchen window, 3m wide. At night it attracts insects from miles around. The geckos are lined up, practically nose-to-tail, in the dark just outside the edge of the window.