Inside the Coriolis effect...

We're in the middle of a heatwave here in my part of Australia. I'm talking day after day of +105F temperature with blazing sun. A sun that is actually killing trees it's so strong and the temperature so hot. At night, we're lucky if it gets down to 90F.

As you might expect, the culprit of this is a high-pressure system. Rather like the harbinger of US summer heat waves when it hangs over Bermuda, this one is over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. The big difference is because of the Coriolis effect, which means weather systems spin in opposite directions in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Being born and raised in the US, I tend to forget this little fact and so am constantly suprised by weather map here as I invariable apply my northen hemisphere logic and so get it all wrong. Little things that keep tripping me up such as:

• Cold air comes from the south;
• Hot weather comes from the north;
• Summer sun is in the northern sky;
• Moss doesn't grow on any side of a tree.

Even Heat Miser would be having a nervous breakdown.

- Farmer Ted