Magazine - Penrith to get Sizzling Summer

By Editor in Cricket on 7th Dec 2009 6:00

Penrith sweated through its hottest and driest November on record, with no respite in sight as experts predicted a sizzling summer.

Just 9mm of rain fell on the city last month - well short of the average monthly total of 79mm - making it Penrith’s driest November since records began 14 years ago. Temperatures were also the hottest on record with a maximum average of 31.5C, almost 5C above normal. Summer came surprisingly early when two days topped 42C last month. Weatherzone meteorologist Samuel Terry said a strengthening El Nino effect meant Penrith, like the rest of Sydney, should expect a hotter than normal summer with below-average rainfall.

Charged with keeping Penrith Cricket Club’s Howell Oval lush and green, groundsman Brian Cameron pulled out the hose almost every day last month to beat the dry conditions. The grounds use excess water pumped straight from the Nepean River. “I’ve been watering heaps more, especially with the heat, which has been extreme for this time of the year,” Mr Cameron said. “In really hot weather I might run (the sprinkler) for 20 hours a day.”

The hot outlook doesn’t faze Mr Cameron, who has worked outdoors for more than 30 years. “In the old days I’d sit outside without a shirt for hours at a time, but now I cover up and go inside every hour to rest,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do about it, is there?”

Gardeners also felt the heat last month, with Penrith Gardeners Club president Viv Smith disappointed even relaxed water restrictions couldn’t save her roses. “The hot weather damages the plants - it burnt the new leaves on the tips and burnt the roses and the fuchsias,” Ms Smith said. “They’ve all gone brown and dry.”

Source & More: penrith-press.whereilive.com.au

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