They’ve been baking in the South Australian outback since early November.
Daily maximums have hovered around the mid 30s to the low 40s since then and over the past seven days have topped 45.
A positively balmy top of just 40 has been forecast for Wednesday before the town heats up again with 47 degree maximums expected this Saturday and Sunday.
Now that’s a heatwave.
In fact Lynnie Plate, who runs The Pink Roadhouse and has lived in the town since the 1970s, says the current hot spell has been setting records for the town that also boasts Australia’s highest recorded daytime temperature, 50.7 degrees back on January 2, 1960.
‘We’re just taking it a day at a time,’ she says.
‘Everyone in Oodnadatta owns an airconditioner and they just run 24-7.
‘We stay indoors, get up early, get up before the real heat of the day. If you want to go out, you do it after dark.
Strangely, Ms Plate says the severe conditions rarely deter the tourists.
Many are international visitors and don’t really appreciate just how hot it can get in the outback and the dangers that can present.
She gives them the best advice she can, but says sometimes they don’t quite understand, if English isn’t their first language, or just don’t listen.
Brenton Chester, from the town’s Transcontinental Hotel, says the town has gone quiet in recent days.
‘Everyone is just staying indoors, there’s pretty much no movement around the town at all,’ he says.
‘We’re frying, it’s extremely hot.
‘But you’ve just got to grin and bear it.’
Children in the town head for the school swimming pool while a local dam is also popular.
Other than that, not much is happening.
However, the locals do enjoy a bit of chuckle at the reports of hot conditions in the cities to the south and the east.
When the mercury topped 42 degrees in Sydney on Tuesday, in Oodnadatta it was 47, for the third day in a row.
‘If it was 41 or 42 we’d be putting jumpers on,’ Mr Chester said.
Source: Sky News Australia