Guardian: Australia experienced its hottest year on record in 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed, with temperatures 1.2C above the long-term average.
The bureau said the new high, which breaks the record set in 2005 by 0.17C, "continues the trend' of steadily rising temperatures in Australia, which has seen the country warm by about 1C since 1950.
The year saw a number of individual records fall, including: The warmest summer and spring seasons ever recorded.
7 January was the hottest summer...