ONSLOW, West Australia: The sun appears to be mercilessly beating down on Onslow in West Australia, as the town registered a searing 123.3 degrees Fahrenheit, or 50.7 degrees Celsius, on January 13, the highest reading on record.

For one week, the town has been reeling from the blistering heat, likely registering a never-seen-before high in temperature. In the initial part of the week, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), warned of excessive heat conditions, though the town was forecast to merely reach 118 degrees Fahrenheit.

Luke Huntington informed the BBC that it has urged the town’s inhabitants to be careful and to stay homebound and in air-conditioned settings, or if venturing out to remain in the shade and maintain sufficient fluid intake.

“The Pilbara region (in the west of Australia) has had persistent hot temperatures over the last few months, and there has been no rainfall to really take away the hot air that has built up,” Lake Huntington officials told WAtoday.

“Over the next few months, there is a high chance that temperatures on a day-to-day basis will be above average, at least until the wet season rains hit properly,” added officials.

Satellite imagery showed the recorded temperatures in the last 7 years as being the highest ever, reported the BBC. Further adding to the menace caused by the unforgiving high temperatures are wildfires, aggravated by 36 months of a dry spell, have erupted throughout the nation’s west areas, triggering mass evacuations of residents from their homes.

In 2020, wildfires scorched 46 million acres in Australia, claiming 34 lives, destroying 3,500 homes, and causing the displacement or claiming the lives of approximately three billion animals.