Nature perturbed: icy darkness in N Amer; 1st-time-in-100-yrs heatwave cooks egg on court at Australia Open in 60C

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Above: players and fans at the Australian Open tennis tournament did their best to keep cool.

An egg cooked after ten minutes on an outside court where air temperatures reached 60C. The official temperature in the shade at 4.53 pm was 45.4C, the hottest since 1908.

A heatwave scorching southern Australia, causing transport chaos by buckling rail lines and leaving more than 140,000 homes without power, is a sign of climate change, the government said.

"It is the worst heatwave most will have lived through," senior forecaster Terry Ryan said in a front-page story headlined "Heat Wave Hell". But this lot looked like they were enjoying it.

Heatwave in Melbourne plays havoc with the Australian Open

...it's playing havoc with the Australian Open. Defending champion Novak Djokovic pulled out of his quarter-final with Andy Roddick looking pale and sickly after two-and-a-half hours of toil in hot and muggy conditions.

The once-in-a-century heatwave has caused havoc at the Australian Open, forcing tournament organizers to cancel matches and invoke their new Extreme Heat Policy for the first time.

Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper said the city would sizzle at more than 40 C for four consecutive days, the longest spell of extreme heat since 1908.

Last week Marcos Baghdatis said he felt physically sick because of the heat.

Zvonareva cooled herself down with an ice pack during her match against Bartoli.

Heatwave cripples south Australia

South-eastern Australia is experiencing its worst heatwave in decades, with temperatures in excess of 43C (109F).
Health officials in South Australia say the searing heat may be to blame for an apparent increase in the number of sudden deaths among the elderly.
In neighboring Victoria state, bush fires have destroyed at least 10 homes.
Nearly 500,000 people in the state are reported to have lost their power supplies, following severe pressure on the electricity grid.

Heat wave oppresses southern Australia

Australia remained in the grip of a record-breaking heat wave that continued claiming lives and maintaining its oppressive grip on southern parts of the country on Sunday.
Adelaide is expected to match its longest heat wave in a century on Monday, with six consecutive days exceeding 40 C. The heat there buckled train and tram lines.
"Not for 100 years has it been six days or more than six days of 40 degrees or more," Matt Collopy from the South Australian Weather Bureau said.

Australia counts heatwave deaths

The Australian authorities fear about 20 people have died as a result of one of the worst heatwaves in 100 years to hit the south-east of the country. Most of them were elderly people who had been struggling in the heat. The heatwave has also caused power outages in Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city.
The temperature has eased to 31C (88F) after reaching highs of more than 40C in recent days in south-eastern states of Victoria and South Australia.
The extreme heat of the past three days has caused disruption, destruction and death.

More than a million wait in icy darkness across US
...with temperatures plunging, utility officials warned that it could be mid-February before electricity is restored to some of the hardest-hit places.

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Photos courtesy of BBC, Adelaide Advertiser / Calum Robertson, AP, EPA, Reuters, and Getty Images

Original Source: BBC News, CBC.ca, and The Telegraph