Weather: It’s Brisbane’s Winter Versus London’s Summer Again

by BobinOz on July 13, 2016 Updated July 13, 2016

in Australian Climate

Welcome once again to my annual comparison of Brisbane’s weather in the middle of winter with that of London’s in the middle of summer. No time for road trip tales today, this is important, we do this every year.

This is the ninth contest in the series, proving, if anything, that once I’ve got the bit between my teeth I never let go. Like the Ashes, this series could go on forever. Before we start, let’s just take a quick look outside of my front door here in Brisbane to see if we have a hot, sunny and clear blue sky day…

No, we don’t. It’s all looking rather cloudy.

Brisbane’s Winter versus London’s summer

It’s been an epic battle between these two cities, here are the results so far:

Yes, it’s been a cracking contest, but at the moment London have edged into a two-point lead. Looking at the newspaper headlines this morning, the odds have shortened massively on London extending that to 3 points.

UK weather headline:

‘Britain is gearing up for a mini-heatwave with 28C (81F) temperatures promising the hottest weekend of summer so far.‘ Source: Mirror online

Australian weather headline:

‘BITTERLY cold, wild weather is sweeping across Australia as a powerful cold front brings strong, damaging winds to the east coast that are strong enough to bring down trees.‘ Source: news.com.au

As I write this, the people in Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart and Sydney are in what’s been described as a ‘monster cold snap’ and snow has fallen in some areas, including parts of Canberra. So, surely this years contest is a foregone conclusion?

No, it isn’t, because I live in Brisbane and that is the city we will be comparing with London.

Brisbane

It may have been a slightly cloudy day, but the sun was up there somewhere…

It may not have in particularly hot either, but the sun still had enough power to generate almost 2 kW of energy to my solar system…

Not bad, although on a hot sunny day it will generate at least double that.

This was the weather today in Brisbane:

As you can see, Brisbane doesn’t really do winter, but even so, with that heatwave on the way, I’m sure London can do better than this.

London

This was the weather today in London:

These weather forecasts have come from weatherzone.com.au, and I think it’s fair to say there’s not really much sign of that heatwave heading towards London any time soon. I checked with other weather forecasters as well, still no sign of 28°C. The highest temperature I saw for London on a 10 day forecast was 25° next Wednesday and even that said it would be partly cloudy.

So much for a heatwave then, catchy headline though.

The winner

This year, again, it is almost too close to call. There’s really not much choose between the two cities. However, we are comparing Brisbane in mid winter to London in the height of summer. The fact that it is so close is an achievement in itself for Brisbane.

I said earlier this series ‘could’ go on forever, but it won’t. It’s 5 – 3 to London at the moment, and although it really is too close to call this year, I’m going to award victory to Brisbane.

Why?

Two reasons really. Firstly, they beat London by 3° today, which is quite impressive and secondly, that makes the score:

Brisbane 4
London 5

At the same time, I’m going to declare this contest a best out of 11, so if London wins next year, they take the series. Brisbane need to win two on the trot to be the victors.

I’m so excited, I can hardly think straight.

Rohan August 10, 2016, 3:26 am | ∞

Hi Bob,
i love in the northwest of England.
Try comparing that.. i have been doing this for the last 3 weeks and it is pretty depressing here. it would be a white wash victory to brisbane
Hopefully will be able to emigrate to brisbane early next year..fingers crossed

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- BobinOz August 10, 2016, 6:18 pm | ∞
  
  Yes, I think the north-west of England would be better off going head-to-head with, say, Hobart or Canberra in a similar contest, I reckon that wouldn’t be quite so depressing for you 🙂
  
  Good luck with your plans, I have my fingers crossed for you as well.
  
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Alastair Blackwood July 23, 2016, 12:55 am | ∞

Dear Bob,

My family and I are moving to Brisbane from the UK at the end of August! Very excited and been acclimatising to the weather with 30 deg heat waves this week! 🙂

Quick question – we are trying to find out if we can bring our child safety seats with us or if Australia have any rules prohibiting that? They’re high quality brands/models in the UK and don’t particularly want to have to shell out again once we arrive. Any advice you could provide would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Kind regards,

Alastair

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- BobinOz July 24, 2016, 8:21 pm | ∞
  
  Yes, I heard the UK had a bit of a heat wave recently, you will surely get them more regularly though when you live in Brisbane.
  
  I do mention child safety seats in the following article…
  
  https://www.bobinoz.com/blog/18915/keeping-children-safe-in-cars-and-on-the-roads-in-australia/
  
  What I say about these car safety seats, which I’m pretty sure it’s true, is that here in Australia they need to comply with Australian standards, that is to say have an Australian standards number stamped onto the seat. Unless you have that on your seat, and I’m pretty sure you won’t, then it would not be legal to use it in this country.
  
  That’s the way I think it works, but you may want to try and check that with the Queensland Department of Transport direct. Hope that helps a bit, and I also hope your move goes very well. Cheers, Bob
  
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  - Alastair Blackwood July 25, 2016, 4:59 am | ∞
    
    Thanks so much for your reply Bob – that’s really helpful and will have saved us a major headache upon arrival! Wish us luck travelling with 3 small children on the plane! :-/
    
    Warm regards,
    
    Alastair
    
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    - Mark July 25, 2016, 10:11 am | ∞
      
      This a website about child seats and the Australian government regulations. http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/Details.aspx?ProductID=1545650
      
      An approved restraint is one that meets AS/NZS 1754 standard, this is Australia’s “5 Tick” standard. No other standards are accepted in Australia, so do 2 or 3 things one call your seat manufacturer and look for standards approval. Two Mothercare do a seat with AS1754 standard on it and look at Britax called safe n sound here or something like. Now Australia has only just cottoned on to Isofix I read some barmy report from 2011 saying it was dangerous to be bolted to car WHAT anyway a bit a a bun fight later and the matter relented to OK the child isn’t bolted to the car The point is though many Australian cars haven’t got isofix newer ones and European ones yes but i’m not sure about a 4 year old Ford territory say my point being if your bringing a isofix find a car with fittings Look on cars for sale email the owner…. I drive an Aus Volvo and yes its got Isofix and we even imported a Volvo coupe and thats even got top tethers fitted, thats the other key, the seat will need a top tether I have seen these on a seat we had in UK and didn’t really understand what is was for now I do. To have to have a seat belt style tether from top of seat to and anchor point on car Yes I can hear many saying ;but its got ISOFIX and Im at a loss too on that.
      From a dot i’s cross T’s prospective a non complying seat will probably work as it did in UK and was perfectly legal and its not been tested by some back street workshop in Nigeria after all but and touch wood things never needed an insurance company slimy wiggly sort with letters after his name wil say otherwise. Truth is a police officer is not likely to stop you to examine your seat but to be safe contact the makers of the seat you have and look for the AS1754 thing Im personally against buying a second hand seat but there are many good ones Our was when we sold it so if that ticks a box and you say only need one for 4 months for one child maybe worth considering gumtree .
      
      Finally look at the states rules on child seats some are not needed after 7 and height others do, it varies state to state if travelling . Your a responsible parent otherwise you would not be asking the question so you will know whats best as well. finally NMRA is the NSW equivalent of RAC AA they have got a lot of videos on fitting child seats in various cars even a Volvo C70 (why you would put a child seat in one beggars belief or your a contortionist ) anyway you may learn a lot there. Have a great flight, theres enough to keep children entertained and many will help you, if they are really young call your airline check in in UK youd be surprised you might even get some helpl
      
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      - Alastair Blackwood July 29, 2016, 5:30 pm | ∞
        
        Thanks Mark, very kind of you to go to let me know all that. From what I can see, despite surpassing EU standards, our car seats aren’t 5-point ones and won’t meet the Aussie requirements. Sadly just one of those things. Never mind…
        
        Thanks for tip re airline check-in too. Hopefully we can get some extra assistance with my 2 year old who will be the tricky one.
        
        Thanks again and all the best,
        
        Alastair
        
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Jojo July 19, 2016, 8:47 pm | ∞

Bob, we are on the Tuesday after this post, and in Bristol it was a rather pleasant 27C (while it was 30+ in London), and today it is expected to reach 35C in places, while it is already 29C here in Bristol and it isn’t even lunch time.

although it must be said, these are likely to be the hottest temperatures of the year so while I would suggest the win for UK, based on these 2 days, the other 363 days are probably heading down under.

keep up the blogging. It is keeping me, and many others, going while we attempt to reach our dream.

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- BobinOz July 20, 2016, 9:51 pm | ∞
  
  Thanks for the weather update Jojo, sounds like you are having an extraordinarily warm time in the UK at the moment.
  
  In all the time I’ve been running this competition, I think the temperatures you have mentioned there are the highest the UK has ever had. So it was really unfortunate timing that on the actual day I did this post, Brisbane was warmer than London.
  
  Can’t change the result now I’m afraid 🙂
  
  I also have to tell you that here in Brisbane it has got decidedly warmer this week as well. Today, exactly one week after this post, was a very pleasant 25°C and the forecast for the next three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday are for 27°, 28° and 27° respectively.
  
  And we are in the depths of winter!
  
  I’ll keep up the blogging Jojo, hopefully you will keep reading and here’s to you achieving your dream sometime soon. Cheers, Bob
  
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