www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25023335-1243,00.html

We always had occasional heatwaves, but the last five or six years we've had one every summer, & a little worse each time. This year's is the worst yet & has so far burned 300 000 hectares and several towns. 84 people are dead & there's a bushfire front 100 kilometers long which is burning out of control. Many of us are under threat or know people who are. Australia is also facing the longest drought in our history, which is obviously not helpful.

Our place is not under direct threat yet... but our poor kitten has spent weeks lying in the shower cubicle because he just can't get cool (he purrs when you put wet towels on him).

Our climate is going all to hell, seriously. Has this been making the news outside of Australia?

LiquidIce, I'll pray for you and those affected. Hope the fires come nowhere near you.

To answer your question, we haven't heard reports of this in the American media. Where I live, we've actually had lower temperatures and more snow in the past two years (we're in winter up here) than in previous winters. Wish we could send some your way.

Keep us posted - it is definitely making the news here, though i first became aware of it while following the Australian Open. . It ahs ceertainly been widely reported since.

I knew about the bad droughts last year - I think I sent up a message about it on the old boards to you and Snow Dogs. You are certainly in our thoughts.

This news was also absolutely new for me. The newspapers around here are reporting the local (European) weather, which has been very annoying for the past 2 months. first we´ve had a lot of snow in december, than we´ve been through an extraordinary cold period for some weeks, with peaks of more than -20 degree Celsius (no, i´m not living near Moscow!).Than there were some of the usual january winter storms and now that everybody thinks the weather could become a little more pleasant a winter storm is once again all over Europe and the snow seems to return.

There was also a detailled reporting about Gazprom in January, because they stopped delivering petroleum gasoline for 2 weeks or so for economical reasons- half of Europe is dependend on the delivery of the russian gasoline. A nice time to loose such a important ressource when it´s that bitter cold out there.

Monday morning when I read your post, I had no idea what you were talking about. Then, I heard it on National Public Radio news several times while driving, and it made the nightly news programs, and even Yahoo news. Apaprently, your posting here has made the US media realize they had better start reporting about it.

I've been aware of it. I've been keeping tabs on my Aussie friends and they bring it up pretty regularly, the drought if not the fires.

You are all in my prayers.

Massive thanks, guys. It's good to know that people are interested. Apparently President Obama called our PM yesterday to offer aid. How nice is that?

Funny thing, while the south of Australia is burning, the north is having the worst floods in history. But some tiny good news is the heatwave has broken in Canberra - my town. It actually rained today. I claim credit- the rain started right after I put out the washing out to dry.