Bob Beamon's Leap Into History

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It was the afternoon of October 18^th 1968, and the occasion was the long jump final of the Mexico City Olympic games. Bob Beamon, the United States champion, stood at the beginning of the long jump runway, eying the raked sand landing pit some 50 metres away.

A tall, lean and muscular man, Beamon was one of the favourites for the event, but not the world record holder – this had been set at 8.35 metres by the Russian athlete Igor Ter-Ovanesyan almost exactly a year before.

Beamon began his run, accelerating smoothly to top pace and hit the take off mark absolutely flat out and in perfect balance. Soaring into space he seemed to briefly defy gravity and float above the sand before returning to earth with a textbook landing. Even to the untrained eye it looked to be a massive jump, but it was destined to be far more than that – it became one of the defining moments in the history of track and field.

His leap was so huge that that it was beyond the range of the special optical device that had been installed to measure the jumps – instead, stunned officials scrambled to measure the distance with a tape. The result was electrifying – a new world record of 8.90 metres was flashed up on the scoreboard. And not only a new record but an absolute demolition job – nobody in history had jumped anywhere near this distance before.

Bob Beamon's jump was a record in terms of distance and also in terms of the amount by which the previous record was broken. Image from Wikipedia Commons

(Click to enlarge)

Normally, in the long jump, when a new record is set, any improvement over the old figure is measured in small increments. But Beamon’s jump raised the distance by an astonishing 55 cm – by far the biggest increase in recorded history.

The rest of the meeting was almost an anticlimax – rain washed through the stadium soon after and second place went to Klaus Beer, the East German, with a leap of 8.19 metres – an astonishing 71 cm short of Beamon’s jump. Bob Beamon finished the day with an Olympic Gold medal, a world record and one of the most remarkable performances ever recorded in the history of athletics.

So how was he able to jump so far on that afternoon? A great deal of study and investigation followed to try and account for his phenomenal performance.

Mexico City lies at an altitude of 2300 metres where the atmosphere is only about 75% as dense as that at sea level, meaning that Beamon experienced correspondingly less air resistance. In addition, he jumped with a “tailwind” which also assisted him – subsequent studies showed that these two factors of altitude and wind assistance could have provided him with a 31 cm advantage compared to a similar jump in still conditions at sea level. This still leaves unexplained a distance of 24 cm – the balance of the 55 cm by which he broke the world record.

Technically, Beamon’s jump was near perfect – his run up was smooth and he hit the take off board at full pace without having to lengthen or shorten his stride. Post analysis of the jump using both still and “movie” images show that he would have cleared a horizontal bar set at 1.7 m over the middle of the pit, which is a phenomenal height for a long jumper. His style through the air was textbook – he adopted a classic aerodynamic position that minimised air resistance and the landing was also ideal with maximum extension achieved without toppling backwards.

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But even all these factors do not adequately explain the enormity of his achievement – perhaps it is only the human spirit, that can, on special occasions, produce superhuman results – that provides the answer.

Bob Beamon’s jump stood as the world long jump record for 23 years until exceeded by 5 cm in a jump by Mike Powell in August 1991. However it still stands as the Olympic record – 44 years later as of 2012.

The gold medal for the London Olympic games was won by Greg Rutherford of Great Britain with a great leap of 8.31 m. However this would not have come close to Bob Beamon's jump.

If we rank all the long jump world records since 1900 in order by the amount that each broke the previous record, we obtain the following table:

1. Robert Beamon (USA) 55 cm 1968

2. Jesse Owens (USA) 15 cm 1935

3. William Hubbard (USA) 13 cm 1925

4. Edward Gourdin (USA) 8 cm 1923

5. Ralph Boston (USA) 8 cm 1960

6. Robert LeGendre (USA) 7 cm 1924

7. Chuhei Nambu (JPN) 5 cm 1931

8. Michael Powell (USA) 5 cm 1991

9. Ralph Boston (USA) 4 cm 1961

10. Sylvio Cator (HAI) 3 cm 1928

11. Ralph Boston (USA) 3 cm 1961

12. Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (URS) 3 cm 1962

13. Ralph Boston (USA) 3 cm 1964

14. Edward Hamm (USA) 1 cm 1928

15. Ralph Boston (USA) 1 cm 1965

16. Ralph Boston (USA) 0 cm 1964 (equal WR)

17. Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (URS) 0 cm 1967 (equal WR)

We see from this analysis that Bob Beamon’s jump stands alone. His performance earned him the title of Track and Field Athlete of the Year for 1968 and was later named as one of the five greatest sporting achievements of the 20^th century by Sports Illustrated.

For a great vision of the now legendary jump see

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/bob%20beamon?page=20

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEt_Xgg8dzc

For some information on the world high jump records see

http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-high-can-humans-jump.html

The Race of Death

By world standards, mountains in Australia are not very tall with the highest peak being Mount Kosciusko at only 2235 metres. However, extreme conditions can occur across the mountain ranges over south-eastern Australia, particularly in the winter months when quite heavy snow can fall over widespread areas. This has led to tragedy in the past, and some hard lessons have been learned about life in the high country.

Image: Mount Wellington towers above Hobart, often carrying a mantle of snow during the winter months.

Image from Wikipedia commons - click to enlarge.

Mount Wellington forms a picturesque backdrop to the City of Hobart, rising to a height of 1270 metres, and often with its peak covered in snow during the winter months. However, because of its southerly latitude, snow producing cold fronts racing up from the far Southern Ocean can reach the area at any time, even during the summer, triggering extreme changes in temperature across the area. When a strong cold front moves through Tasmania snow can extend down to quite low levels, with several recorded cases of snow actually reaching sea level around Hobart.

It was Mount Wellington, with its notoriously capricious weather that formed the stage for a gruelling athletics race in 1903, a race that was to end in a double tragedy.

In the early 1900’s there was an Australia-wide athletics craze, with numerous running and walking competitions staged around the country, involving both sprinting and distance events. Unlike today’s fun running phenomenon, these events normally involved trained and sometimes professional athletes, with prizes given and a good deal of public betting on the side.

However the first major race up Mount Wellington was an all-amateur affair, organised by the Tasmanian Amateur Athletics Association, and with the first prize not money, but a brand new double barrelled shotgun presented by the sponsor Watson Whisky.

The race was organised for Saturday September 19, 1903, and ran from Lower Elizabeth Street to the top of Mount Wellington and back – a distance of some 27 kilometers. The format was what was called a “Go As You Please” race, which meant that the route the runner elected to take was optional - provided he reached the checkpoint at the top of the mountain, he could go any way he wanted.

On the morning before the race, the weather was described as “very unsettled”, with snow drifting down to low levels on the mountain. There was talk of postponing the start, but eventually the field got under way in the early afternoon, with 39 out of the 70 original entrants beginning the race. The pace was a cracker out of the city but naturally began to slow as the runners began the arduous climb up the side of the mountain.

The Organ Pipes - a distinctive rock formation near the summit. Image from Wikipedia commons - click to enlarge.

Then, only part of the way through the climb, it began snowing and the athletes, only lightly clad in athletic singlets and shorts, found themselves in freezing conditions, with a strong south-west wind producing a chill factor that effectively dropped the temperature much further. The going became too tough for several and only 23 out of the 39 starters reached the pinnacle and began the downhill run home.

One member of the group of officials at the summit reported that “He had never met with worse weather on the mountain. With the heavy snow beating on them,(the athletes) their clothes got frozen hard”. Leading at the half way mark was a runner called Charles Beard, but he was followed closely by a group which consisted of Betts, McDonald and Cockshutt. Another athlete, Mark Richards, also reached the summit but complained of feeling faint and dizzy. He was about to drop out but was “encouraged by another competitor” and was persuaded to run on.

As a result of the steep downhill grades on the return journey, the pace picked up considerably, but because of the freezing conditions many of the athletes became exhausted and dropped out. More than half of the 23 men who reached the summit failed to reach the finish, and only a small band eventually raced into the city, applauded by a large crowd. The eventual winner was Cockshutt in the very respectable time of 2hr 44 min.

However the euphoria of the finish of the first organised race up Mount Wellington was soon eclipsed by the news filtering back from the mountain; Mark Richards had collapsed and died part way down, and another athlete, George Radford, was missing. The local police, together with the race promoters, immediately organised search parties, and these continued in failing light and falling snow until well after midnight, but no trace of Radford was found. Next morning the search resumed at sunrise, and a little later, Radford’s body was found in the snow on the “Old Fingerpost Track” where he had fallen backwards and frozen to death.

This double death toll cast a pall of gloom over the race as well as the organisers and a full coronial enquiry was ordered. This found that both Richards and Radford had died from a combination of heart failure and prolonged exposure to below freezing conditions.

Such a tragedy is unlikely to happen today. Recognised distance running events involving either elite athletes or “fun runners” are carefully planned and have medical assistance available to all competitors. In addition, the weather forecasts are routinely monitored, and if extreme conditions, such as very hot or very cold temperatures are forecast, race organisers will incorporate this into their planning.

As far as Tasmania is concerned, not only Mount Wellington, but the state as a whole, can experience great temperature variations. Cold outbreaks can produce snow across many parts of the Tasmanian highlands even during the summer months, and the Bureau of Meteorology issues “Bushwalker’s Alerts” when such a change is expected.

Today the Radford Track on Mount Wellington is both a memorial and a reminder of the tragic events of September 1903.

Reference: Australia's Natural Disasters, Richard Whitaker, New Holland Publications, 2005

The Naming of Tropical Cyclones

Photograph: HMAS "Arrow" lies wrecked in Darwin Harbour following tropical cyclone "Tracy" in December 1974. Image: Wikipedia Commons - click to enlarge

Whilst many of the famous tropical cyclones in Australia’s history are instantly recognised by the names they were given, such as Tracy, Althea and Trixie, some of our most intense cyclones were never named at all.

The reason for this is tied up in the history of the naming of cyclones in Australia, which is an interesting story in itself. Clement Wragge, the rather eccentric Queensland Government Meteorologist from 1887 to 1902, is thought to have been the first person in the world to name tropical cyclones.

He called them after letters from the Greek alphabet, figures from Greek and Roman mythology, feminine names and also the names of some of the politicians of the day, including Drake, Barton and Deakin. Wragge considered that both politicians and tropical cyclones were national disasters.

In 1902, the Member for Werriwa was the Honourable Mr. A.H.Conroy, who somehow had incurred Wragge’s displeasure because he featured in several cyclone warnings. These included “Conroy, looking nasty, is coming along the coast” and “Conroy, black and treacherous, is likely to cross the Southern District…”. Justifiably miffed, Conroy dismissed Wragge as “an advertising scientist”.

After Wragge had left the meteorological scene in 1908, the naming of tropical cyclones lapsed and was not resumed by the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia until 1963. Then only feminine names were employed, but after complaints that this practice was discriminatory, both male and female names were used from 1975 onwards.

As a result of all this, cyclones that occurred between 1908 and 1963 were generally not given a name and these included some major storms that created massive damage and considerable loss of life. A powerful cyclone devastated Mackay in January 1918, killing 30 people and destroying some 30% of the housing in the area. And in 1954 a cyclone struck the Gold Coast of Queensland with 26 people perishing and hundreds of houses destroyed in the general area. Neither of these cyclones was named.

Tropical cyclone "Ingrid" threatened the Queensland coastline during March 2005.

(NASA image) - click to enlarge

Today, the names of tropical cyclones come from a list maintained and updated by the Bureau of Meteorology according to quite a strict protocol.

This contains five main guidelines that are called the “Tropical cyclone naming policy” and these are:

* Tropical cyclone names in each list are alternate male and female

* Names of cyclones that have already significantly affected the Australian region cannot be used again – for example “Tracy”.

* If two or more cyclones are occurring simultaneously, similar sounding names (for example June & Jane) are avoided to minimise confusion

* Names should not be capable of being construed to subject the Bureau to criticism or ridicule (for example naming a sequence of cyclones after politicians)

* Lists of names are coordinated with neighbouring meteorological services to avoid duplication

These guidelines, together with the current list of names being used, can be found at

http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/about/names.shtml

Tropical revolving storms – that we call tropical cyclones in Australia - are referred to as “hurricanes” in the USA and “typhoons” in much of Asia.

Hurricane derives from the South American Carib word “Hurican” meaning God of Evil, and typhoon originates from the Chinese “tai’fung” meaning Great Wind.

Reference: Australia’s Natural Disasters, Richard Whitaker (New Holland Publishers) 2005.

Heatwaves in Australia

There is no universally accepted definition of a “heatwave” so to a certain extent we can make up our own. A simple and easy to remember definition is the 5/5 rule – that is five days in a row where the maximum temperature is five or more degrees Celsius above average.

But academic definitions aside, one thing is eminently clear – heat waves are lethal happenings – in fact the most deadly of all meteorological extremes. Perhaps surprisingly, heat waves kill many more people each year than tropical cyclones, bushfires, thunderstorms and floods. Whenever there is a heat wave there is an immediate spike in community mortality, and from analysing the nature of the “spike” experts can estimate the associated death toll.

Australia has experienced numerous recorded heatwaves and some of the main events are listed here together with the estimated number of deaths recorded nationally:

* January 1908 - 246
* February 1921 - 147
* January 1927 - 130
* January 1939 - 438
* February 1959 - 105
* January 1973 - 26
* February 1981 - 15
* February 1993 - 17
* February 2004 - 12
* February 2009 - 374



The temperature profile of the Melbourne heatwave of January and February 2009. Note the three consecutive days over 43C in late January, followed by a record 46.4C on February 7. It is believed that 374 people died as a result. Melbourne's average maximum temperature for this time of the year is 26C.
Image: Wikipedia Commons.
(Click on image to enlarge)

These mortality numbers cannot be used to directly gauge the severity of heatwaves as the population and social habits of the day also play a role. The larger number or people around today will obviously produce a proportionate increase in mortality compared to the situation of say fifty years ago.

But on the other hand, people today have far more access to fans and air conditioning than their earlier counterparts. Direct comparisons are therefore difficult.

Australia’s southern capitals are all subject to heatwaves, including Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, and these events are often accompanied by severe bushfires.

An interesting article appeared in the Melbourne Argus on Friday 19th January 1934 that contained some recollections of severe heatwaves in Melbourne over the years. The temperatures quoted are of course in the old Fahrenheit scale – 100 degrees Fahrenheit is approximately 38 degrees Celsius.

“A very good idea of the intense heat of Thursday (January 25th 1875) may be gathered from the fact that a gentleman of Soldiers Hill who thought it unnecessary to have a fire in the house to provide himself a meal utilised the suns rays to cook an omelette and the feat was successfully performed. He placed a school slate for a while out of doors then spread some butter upon it and breaking an egg thereon in a few minutes the egg was, perfectly cooked, as if done in the orthodox pan over a fire.

The Weather Bureau record on that day was 110.4 degrees, compared with 102.5 degrees yesterday. There were bush fires all over Victoria then; there were four days of intense heat in Melbourne, and it was reported that a stack of firewood had been ignited by the heat of the sun’s rays. As usual in a heat wave in those days the Yan Yean supply failed in most of the suburbs and water was carted in drays to Emerald Hill (South Melbourne) Richmond and
Kew.

In 1883 the Hon. Ivo Bligh's cricket team was visiting Melbourne, on three days the temperature exceeded 100 degrees - twice it exceeded 104 degrees. Correspondents wrote to the newspapers of the odour of the filthy Elizabeth street drain-and the Yan Yean failed. For the next heat wave, in 1898, there was also an English team present and "Observer" wrote in his introduction to the account of the match, ' On every hand there were heard weary sighings for rain - rain by the inch even though Australia lost the cricket match because of it!” Almost the whole of Gippsland was ablaze. In Melbourne the horses of the Fire Brigade were exhausted and none could be found strong enough to take their places. Elms, planes, oaks, and willow trees withered in the parks in the first days of February.

In 1905 some persons walked through the streets of the city in bathing suits when 108.5 degrees was registered on two days in January - but bathing suits then were different. Amusements were postponed and labourers were forced to cease work.

The record heat wave in Melbourne, however, was in 1908 from January 15 to January 20, six days of “centuries" with a maximum of 109.1 degrees. There were many sudden deaths from heat-stroke; the heat hastened the deaths of many sick persons; there was a constant stream of ambulance wagons to the Melbourne Hospital, and the number of deaths was so abnormal that the Melbourne General Cemetery management was unable to keep pace with the demand for burials. The Yan Yean failed again though not so seriously. The heat was so intense in the Newport railway workshops that portions of it were closed. Schools postponed their opening after the Christmas holidays, stock and poultry died. Thousands of suburban residents left their homes and carried mattresses into the public parks. The tram and train services could not cope with the crowds who went to the beaches, and thousands were left stranded at St Kilda and Brighton beaches unable to obtain a foothold on the last trams and trains to their homes.

In February 1912 when there appeared the first report of a man and his wife having driven to the beach wearing bathing suits in a “motor landaulette”. Birds, beasts and even fish in the lakes dropped dead. Since then the heat and its effects have been more mild. A constable collapsed on Flinders Street station in 1922. In 1927 the most serious effect of 104.5 degrees in the shade after a run of hot weather, was that potatoes suffered from sunburn; two years ago a temperature of 108.9 degrees was registered at the Weather Bureau, and many persons suffered from heat-stroke”.

Even in modern Australian society with its air conditioning, fast communications and advanced medical practices, heat waves remain a summer menace, and with the experts predicting an increasing frequency, this is a menace that will probably get worse rather than better.

2009 - The Year That Was

2009 turned out to be a year of amazing weather extremes - hot and cold, wet and dry with many records being set along the way. Here are some of the weather highlights for 2009 with great photographs supplied by viewers of The Weather Channel.

* During January and February, widespread heavy rain fell across north-western Queensland, producing extensive flooding around the Mt. Isa and Cloncurry areas. Flood-waters travelled southwards into Lake Eyre over the following weeks.

The Copperfield River, Queensland, in flood. Photo by Cindy and Damien (click to enlarge)

* A record-breaking heat- wave began building across south-eastern Australia during January and early February. During this time many temperature records were broken in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and southern NSW.

Tasmania recorded its highest ever temperature on 30th January (Scamander 42.2C).

On 7th February Victoria’s highest ever temperature was registered at Hopetoun at 48.8C and Melbourne’s new temperature record was raised to 46.4C on the same day.

Numerous deaths attributed to the heat were reported and morgues in Melbourne and Adelaide were filled to capacity because of the spike in heat related deaths. In Melbourne alone it’s estimated that more that 350 people died as a direct result of the heat during the scorching days of the 28th, 29th and 30th January, when maximum temperatures climbed above 43C on each day.

* Disastrous bushfires erupted across parts of central Victoria on Saturday 7th February – the Black Saturday fires - with 173 lives lost and more than 1800 houses razed. These were the worst fires in Australian history.


Black Saturday fires rage across Victoria. Photograph from Wikipedia Commons. (Daniel Cleavely)
(Click to enlarge)

* An east coast low dumped heavy rain along the NSW coastal areas between Kempsey and Newcastle on Tuesday 17th February, generating further floods across the already saturated Bellinger River catchment. The town of Bellingen was totally isolated over the next 24-hour period.

* On Tuesday March 31st, phenomenal rain from a nest of slow moving thunderstorms produced major flooding around Coffs Harbour. Some locations experienced more than 400 mm in a six hour period. The flooding produced major damage as well as numerous evacuations around the area.


Raging floods in Coffs Harbour. Photo by Steve Canute

* Heavy snow fell across the NSW and Victorian ski fields during Sunday 26th and Monday 27th April, allowing Mount Buller in Victoria, to open for business on Saturday 2nd May – the earliest start to the ski season in 45 years.

* Heavy rain set in across south-eastern Queensland on the night of Tuesday 19th May and continued through Wednesday. 48 hour totals in excess of 300 mm produced massive flooding across Brisbane and the Gold Coast with the inundation being compared in extent to the floods of 1974. Massive infrastructure damage unfolded with roads cut, power-lines down and waterways overtopping their banks. South-eastern Queensland was declared a natural disaster area by the Premier as the damage bill continued to rise. Queensland dams rose to 73 % by the end of the week – an increase in 13% in less than 1 week.

* The eastern rainfall focus then turned to the northern coastal areas of NSW on Thursday and Friday 21st and 22nd May with very heavy falls triggering widespread flooding across the NSW Northern Rivers and Mid North coast. Flood warnings eventually spread to 10 major river systems in the area.

* On Monday 15th June, rain began ramping up along the NSW coastline, in particular the Mid North Coast and northern Rivers areas. A succession of wet days followed with three day totals in excess of 200 mm accumulating in some areas, and a minor flood warning was issued on Saturday 10th for the Orara River – a tributary of the Clarence River.

* Heavy rainfall across eastern Tasmania, produced by a low over eastern Victoria, generated big rain gauge totals during Wednesday and Thursday, 12th and 13th August, with substantial flooding resulting over the South Esk and Macquarie River basins.

* Very warm to hot weather developed over central and eastern Australia during the week of 9th to 16th August, in north-westerly winds ahead of the fronts, as they moved eastward. Alice Springs experienced 6 days in a row where the temperature reached or exceeded 30C, which is the first time this has happened in August in at least 60 years.

* On Tuesday 22nd September a major dust storm spread across inland NSW, affecting Broken Hill, Tibooburra, and the ACT. The dust hit Sydney early on Wed 23rd, producing the most intense dust storm across the city in living memory. The dust then extended north over the next 48 hours, affecting Brisbane and then cities further north over inland and coastal areas of Queensland.


Red dust blankets Sydney on Wednesday 23rd September.
Image from Wikipedia Commons
(Merbabu)
(Click to enlarge)

* Heavy rain over the Mid North Coast area during Monday 26th October produced further minor to moderate flooding in the Bellinger, Nambucca and Orara river valleys during Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th October. This was the fourth time that the area has flooded in the last 9 months and the districts were declared a natural disaster area later in the week.

* Tropical Cyclone “Laurence” formed off the Kimberley coastline on Sunday 13th December, and after an irregular movement, proceeded to track across the central inland of Australia. The remnants of “Laurence” then produced widespread flooding rains across large areas of NSW and southern Queensland during the last week of 2009.

The Severe Weather Season in Australia

The period from November to April each year is often a time of considerable atmospheric turmoil across Australia. Heatwaves, bushfires, tropical cyclones and severe thunderstorms are frequent visitors, producing massive damage bills and on occasion, even loss of life.

This is the severe weather season for Australia and a great deal of effort is invested in providing timely warnings to minimise the impact these events produce on the Australian public.

Bushfires:
During this period, south-eastern Australia frequently experiences bursts of strong, hot, low humidity winds, and this, coupled with an abundance of often tinder dry eucalypt forest, can produce large and uncontrollable bushfires.

The aftermath of the Black Saturday Bushfires in Victoria, February 2009. Image - Peter Campbell, Wikipedia Commons. (Click on image to enlarge)

Three of the worst examples in recent history are:

Black Friday: Victoria
Friday 13th January 1939
71 deaths, 1300 homes destroyed

Ash Wednesday: Victoria and South Australia
Wednesday 16th February 1983
75 deaths, 2500 homes destroyed

Black Saturday: Victoria
Saturday 7th February 2009
171 deaths, 1800 homes destroyed

Severe thunderstorms:
This weather phenomenon has produced many trails of major damage across Australia in the past, with some of the most financially damaging events affecting the capital cities of Brisbane and Sydney.

Both these cities are located in an environment suitable for severe thunderstorms that are produced when warm, moist sub-tropical air interacts with cold upper atmospheric air that moves up from the higher latitudes. On occasion both cities have been blasted by large hail and strong winds, producing many millions of dollars damage.

Severe thunderstorms remain one of the main forecasting challenges because of their rapid periods of evolution and the small warning lead-time available. A severe thunderstorm can evolve from “no cloud” to a fully-fledged storm in less than an hour, leaving little time to issue weather warnings.

Developing thunderstorm towers high into the atmosphere. Image - Bidgee, Wikipedia Commons (Click on image to enlarge)

They can also produce an astonishing amount of damage in a very short period, particularly when giant hail is involved. Hail larger than golf ball size can smash roof tiles and pulverize cars, producing multi million dollar headaches for insurance companies.

Severe thunderstorms can also generate damaging wind gusts, flash flooding and in extreme cases, tornadoes, that are amongst the most destructive of all weather phenomena.

Tropical cyclones:
The tropical northern coastline of Australia is an area highly prone to tropical cyclone activity, with these often massive storm systems posing a constant threat to the area, particularly between the months of November and April – that is the cyclone season.

Tropical cyclone "Faye" off the coast of Western Australia in March 2004. NASA image - click to enlarge.

The north coasts of Western Australia and Queensland are included in this “strike zone” as is virtually the entire coastline of the Northern Territory. There have been numerous “direct hits” on these coastal areas over the years producing occasional massive destruction and loss of life when a major system collides with one of the larger tropical cities.

Heat waves:
Prolonged spells of hot weather, typically where the daytime temperatures remain five degrees or more above average, are called heat waves, and are amongst the most lethal of all weather patterns.

Mortality rates always show a pronounced peak during heat waves, with many thousands of people around the world succumbing to heat stroke or other related conditions each year.

In Australia it is believed that heat waves kill more people than any other meteorological phenomenon, and estimations indicate that more than 4000 Australians have died as a result between 1803 and 1992.

Heat waves also result in massive increases in power demand, particularly through the use of domestic air conditioning systems and swimming pool filters.

Line of air conditioning units outside a university.
Image: Ildar Sagdejev - Wikipedia Commons. (Click to enlarge)

Weather and the Melbourne Cup

An iconic moment in Australian sporting history - Phar Lap wins the 1930 Melbourne Cup. Judging by the dress of the crowd and their shadows, the weather was fine and cool during race time that day.
Image - Wikipedia Commons
(Click to enlarge)

Rain is a surprisingly frequent visitor to Melbourne on Cup Day, with about one in three race-days affected by rain of some sort.

However rain during the race itself is far less frequent – in fact only about once in every nine years. But there were only two occasions since the Cups beginning in 1861 where the race was actually postponed because of rain and these were the years 1870 and 1916, when the track was so waterlogged that it was deemed unsafe to ride.

Some of the wetter years are described here from contemporary newspaper articles:

1870 - Melbourne Cup is postponed one week due to rain
Eventually won by Nimblefoot

1892 – “The Cup was run in pouring rain”
Won by Glenloth

1899 – “The Melbourne Cup was run in a heavy shower, and the course at the time was fetlock-deep in water and slush”.
Won by Merriwee

1912 – “Wintry Day at Flemington – Rain Mars Attendance”
Won by Piastre

1913 – “A Vast Attendance - Racing in the Rain”.
Won by Posinatus

1916 - Rain postpones the Cup by 5 days – “The track was of the consistency of porridge”.
Eventually won by Sasanof

1924 – “Rain adversely affected the meeting”
Won by Backwood

1934 – “Rain Mars Pleasure of 90,000 people”
Won by Peter Pan

1941 – “No Sectional Times in Cup” – Owing to rain, visibility was so poor when the Melbourne Cup was being run that sectional times could not be obtained.
Won by Skipton

1976 - Rain throughout the race

Won by Van Der Hum

1992 – Rain all through the race
Won by Subzero

A wonderful reminiscence that appeared in The Argus on Saturday 16th August 1939 was written by a lady (who called herself "La Femme") recalling her first visit to the Melbourne Cup as a young lady in 1892 – when it rained heavily throughout the day.

Women's Woe - When it Rains
My first Melbourne Cup was in 1892, and I shall never forget it. I was supposed to be much too young (17) to go to the races, but one of my aunts who had been going became ill, and rather than waste the ticket they let me go. I was very thrilled and excited. I wore a white muslin dress and a scarlet hat trimmed with velvet geraniums. I also had a scarlet sunshade (borrowed).

Getting to Kensington in good time, we got a seat on the grandstand without trouble. We had taken sandwiches and cake, but had to do without tea at lunch, as thermos flasks were unknown then.

We were no sooner seated than it started to rain - as it can in Melbourne. It poured. Everybody looked dejected and miserable, but the races went on just the same. The Cup was also run in pouring rain. Glenloth won - a rank outsider. I heard someone say it was a milkman's horse, and well it might have been, for milkmen's horses are used to being out in all weathers. |

On the platform while waiting for the train back to Melbourne two women came along somewhat "under the influence." One was dressed in a lace frock and what had been a tulle hat with red poppies on it, but the rain had ruined the tulle, which was hanging round her face, and on top of her golden hair was perched a large bunch of wet poppies.

The other was dressed in amber - coloured satin. Her hat must have been beautiful when she started out for the races, but now it was just a bedraggled lot of ostrich feathers. She had only one shoe on, the - other one must have got stuck in the mud, and she had not bothered to put it on again. When the train pulled into the station she took off the remaining shoe and threw it at the engine.

My white muslin dress was a sorry sight, too. To protect my nice hat from the rain I had opened the red sunshade, but the dye ran and made dreadful splashes all over my dress. The dye later proved to be indelible.

I don't think I have since seen so many dejected people coming from the races. We had a miserable trip home in the train. Uncle was so cross. He must have lost a lot of money. Thank goodness we don't often have Cup Days like that.

Extreme Temperatures on Melbourne Cup Day:

Highest maximum temperatures: 35.1C in 1902

Lowest maximum temperature: 11.0C in 1913

Horse Names

As well as weather affecting the race itself, several - but surprisingly few - winners have had weather related names, including the most famous of them all – Phar Lap - which is Thai for lightning.


The mighty Phar Lap - winner of the 1930 Melbourne Cup.

Phar Lap is Thai for lightning.
Image - Wikipedia Commons
(Click to enlarge)

Phar Lap won in 1930, and second place that year was Second Wind, another “weather” name. The 1930 Cup is the only one where horses with meteorological titles came first and second.

You can see a movie of this famous event here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkppKT4-yI8

The 1992 Cup was the only race in which a horse with a “weather” name - Subzero - won whilst it was actually raining.

Only one horse with a "weather" name has won twice - Rain Lover in 1968 and 1969.

Melbourne Cup Winners with “weather” names

1925 Windbag

1930 Phar Lap

1945 Rainbird

1968 Rain Lover

1969 Rain Lover

1992 Subzero

Recent publications by the author: 

From Gods to Gigabytes – a Brief History of Weather Forecasting 

Firewise, Firesafe - How to Survive a Bushfire

For information about either publication you can contact the author at 

weathersmart047@gmail.com