Hot ... hot ... hot ...

Is there nothing that Wikipedia doesn't know? Probably ... but it does know that the hottest day in Australia - which was previously in Oodnadatta (South Australia) on 2 January 1960 - has now been joined by another equally hot day - at Onslow (Western Australia) on 13 January (2022). Both temperatures came in at 50.7°C (123.3°F). They're not the only places in Australia to have high temperatures - both New South Wales and Queensland have had temperatures at 49.5°C (121.1°F) or above in the last 50 years or so. It's interesting, though, that even Australia's southernmost State has had over 40°C temperatures.

While it could appear to be getting hotter, I was reading the other day about 1816 - The Year Without a Summer. According to Wikipedia, severe climate abnormalities caused global temperatures to decrease by 0.4–0.7°C (0.7–1°F). It was the coldest it had been in Europe between 1766 and 2000. The result was major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere. The reason: a volcanic winter event caused the massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies (now known as Indonesia).
It wasn't all bad though (?) ... it was while Mary Shelley was holed up during this period that she entered into a writing competion to see who of her compatriots could write the best horror story ... and thus Frankenstein was born ... or would that be ... created!