Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

.34' 57'.. 31" 57' .—CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIA. 869long succession of graduated isothermal lines, with a mean temperature rangingfrom 78° or 80° F. in the extreme north to not more than 54° in the extremesouth. But this gradual decrease does not correspond uniformly with the changeof latitude, for the normal averages are often greatly modified, raised in one place,lowered in another, by the influence of the prevailing winds, marine currents, andmountain ranges. Thus the temperature is diversely affected by the backwardflow of the equatorial and polar currents, which meet on the coasts of Queenslandand New South Wales. The contrasts are also always great between the oppositeslopes of the higher ranges, while iu the deserts of the interior, as in the AfricanFig.mo.—ISOTHEKILSXS OF AUSTRAI-IA.Scale 1 : 45,000.000.Sahara, the extremes of heat and cold present enormous discrepancies, accordingto Sturt as much as from 16° to 122° F. and even more.*In Australia the normal wind is the south-east trade, which prevails in thelower, while the oppo.site north-west trade sets regularly in the higher atmospheric* Climate of various Australian tOTvns :Latitude.Somerset, N.E. . 10' 45' S.san temperature.Brisbane, E. . . 27° 28' .Sydney, E. . 33' 52' .Melbourne, S. . . 37° 49'.Adelaide, S. .Perth, S.W. .vol,. XIV.