The Brickfielder is a hot and dry wind in

Southern Australia The term Southern Australia is generally considered to refer to the states and territories of Australia of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. The part of Western Australia south of lati ...

that develops in the country's deserts in late spring and summer, which heavily raises temperatures in the southeast coast.

Etymology

The term name was recorded in early 19th century, which emanated from the name of

Brickfield Hill Brickfield Hill is a City of Sydney locality in inner city Sydney, Australia. The name was used for the surrounding settlement serving the colony's growing need for bricks, and today is part of the suburb of Surry Hills. History Brickfield Hill ...

, a site which was a former brickworks in the centre of

Sydney CBD The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or city centre is often refer ...

. The area was associated with dusty wind that conveyed clouds of reddish dust from the brickworks over the emerging city. A more frequently used term for the winds is a "burster".

Development

The brickfielder precedes the passage of a frontal zone of a

low pressure system In meteorology, a low-pressure area, low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclement weather (such as cloudy, windy, with possible ...

passing by, and causes severe

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...

s that often last for days and led to its naming as the winds blow up red brick dust. It blows to the coastal regions in the south from the

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

, reaching the capitals of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to south, and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to the east. The dry northwesterly desert air from the interior of Australia transports dusty clouds alongside sudden hot spells that usually surpass 38C (100F) to places that feature a relatively mild climate. The temperature might rise up by 15 to 20°C within hours.

Effects

The northern brickfielder is almost invariably followed by a strong " southerly buster," cloudy and cool from the ocean. The two winds are due to the same cause, viz. a cyclonic system over the Australian Bight. These systems frequently extend inland as a narrow V-shaped depression (the apex northward), bringing the winds from the north on their eastern sides and from the south on their western. Hence as the narrow system passes eastward the wind suddenly changes from north to south, and the

thermometer A thermometer is a device that temperature measurement, measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a merc ...

has been known to fall in twenty minutes. On the coastal plains of New South Wales, such as in

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, the Brickfielder may be exacerbated by the

southeast Australian foehn The southeast Australian foehn is a westerly foehn wind and a rain shadow effect that usually occurs on the coastal plain of southern New South Wales, and as well as in eastern Victoria and eastern Tasmania, on the leeward side of the Great Divid ...

.Sharples, J.J., McRae, R.H.D., Weber, R.O., Mills, G.A. (2009) ''Foehn-like winds and fire danger anomalies in southeastern Australia''. Proceedings of the 18th IMACS World Congress and MODSIM09. 13–17 July, Cairns.

References

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Etymology

Development

Effects

See also

References

Further reading