Weather extremes seen in Australia, US

Australia experienced its hottest year on record in 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology said Friday, as snow, high winds and a glacial chill hit the northeastern United States.

Last year "was Australia's warmest year since records began in 1910," the bureau noted in its annual climate statement, released as inland areas of the country suffered scorching conditions.

"Mean temperatures across Australia have generally been well above average since September 2012," the report said.

The bureau said Australia's 2012 to 2013 summer was the warmest on record, and included a prolonged national heat wave that ended Jan 19, 2013 - the first day since Dec 31, 2012, that it did not reach 45 C somewhere in the nation.

Spring also was the warmest on record, and winter was the third warmest, meaning that the annual national mean temperature was 1.20 degrees Celsius above average.

The bureau pointed to destructive fires in the island state of Tasmania in early 2013, followed by a record-breaking hot and dry winter.

Spring appeared to arrive early and culminated in "the most destructive fires in the Sydney region since at least 1968".

The weather authority, which last year introduced new colors on its temperature scale to indicate more extreme highs, said the Australian warming was similar to that seen on a global scale.

This year also began warmly, with records already under threat in some Outback towns.

In Moomba in northern South Australia, temperatures topped 48 C on Thursday. The highest temperature ever recorded in Australia was 50.7 C in Oodnadatta in 1960.

Sarah Perkins, a climate system science researcher at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said the report confirms that impacts of global warming are starting to be felt.

"Studies have already shown that the risk of summers like 2013 occurring have increased by up to fivefold because of human-induced climate change," she said.

University of Melbourne climate scientist David Karoly said the record high average temperature was remarkable because it did not occur in an "El Nino" year, when conditions in Australia are usually drier and warmer.

He said that in climate modeling experiments it was not possible to reach such a temperature record due to natural climate variations alone.

"This record could not occur due to natural variability alone and is only possible due to the combination of greenhouse climate change and natural variability on Australian average temperature," he said.

Extreme weather of a different sort plagued the US Thursday, as snow, high winds and sub-zero temperatures bore down on many states and major cities, snarling air traffic.

Temperatures in New York were expected to drop to -13 C.

The airline tracking system FlightAware said some 2,200 flights within, into or out of the US had been canceled.

In the Big Apple, where thick flakes were falling Thursday evening, the storm was serving as a first test for the city's new mayor, Bill de Blasio, who started Wednesday.

But he said the city was focusing like a laser on what was to come. "We are ready," he said.

The mayor urged residents to try to stay off the streets.

"Please, starting this evening, stay inside. If you don't need to go out, don't go out," de Blasio said.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo activated the State Emergency Operations Center and also urged people to use mass transit, warning of highway closures.

In neighboring New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency in anticipation of what was to come. And Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy ordered state employees to leave work early to alleviate the evening commute.

An Australian family enjoy a Christmas Day swim at Bondi Beach in Sydney last week. Last year was the country's warmest on record. Saeed Khan / AFP