The township of Onslow on Western Australia’s Pilbara coast is more renowned for its salt than temperature records. On Thursday, January 13, 2022, this changed when a wind change and wind speed drop, saw the township equal the Australian temperature record of 50.7° celcius.
The record had been solely the preserve of Oodnadatta, in South Australia’s central northern region. They recorded this in a well-documented heatwave that emanated from the Pilbara and slowly drifted east before establishing the long-held record on January 2, 1960. January 3, 1960, almost saw the record broken again at Oodnadatta, when they recorded 50.3°C. 
The anatomy of a heatwave is a well discussed and disected phenomena and its effects are quite well known in Australia. So how did an Australian coastal town achieve this feat, without the official buid-up associated with heat waves?
Onslow’s record highest temperature before January 13, 2002 was only 47°C over three degrees cooler, so to smash the record temperature by so much was quite and achievement. To even reach the 50°C mark requires a lot of heat build up and perfect wind speeds that negate any cooling effects. Every afternoon in summer usually sees Onslow recieving winds off the Indian Ocean which provides a respite to the days heat, but these effects were missing on January 13. Instead of a sea breeze, all day the wind had swung around from the south-east and blowing super heated hot air in from the regions around Marble Bar. The wind direction change has been attibuted to Ex- Tropical Cyclone Tiffany that made landfall on the Northern Territory’s east coast, driving a strong weather pattern of south easterly wind flow in the Pilbara. The winds associated with the heat record were light, allowingheat to build up over the day and at 2:26pm, the record of 50.7°C was made. The next day saw similar temperatures with 48.0°C recorded.
