Australia to experience high heat and fire this summer – Australia’s weather agency

Australia is experiencing hot weather and fires during early spring. This is causing concerns about a very destructive summer.

This past weekend, over 20 runners in the Sydney Marathon had to go to the hospital because of a very hot weather. Ski resorts, like Perisher which is the biggest one in the country, have closed early because there isn’t enough snow. This is because Australia has just had its warmest winter ever recorded since 1910.

Then, just recently, many uncontrollable fires started in the country, with over 60 burning in the heavily populated state of New South Wales.

These signs are not good for what many areas of the country can expect as spring turns into summer. Climate scientists are warning us about the combination of natural climate events like El Niño with human-caused global warming.

David Bowman, a professor at the University of Tasmania, Australia, said that we are in a very serious situation. “The climate change monster is awake and El Niño means it is furious,” he said to CNN.

Australia’s weather agency, the Bureau of Meteorology, recently declared the start of El Niño. El Niño is a natural pattern that comes from the Pacific Ocean and usually brings hot and dry weather to Australia, especially in the eastern areas.

In addition to El Niño, there is another change in the climate that increases the chances of hot weather and lack of rainfall. The positive Indian Ocean Dipole is a weather pattern like El Niño, but it comes from the Indian Ocean. It can also affect the weather in Australia just like El Niño does.

This “double punch” is very unlucky, said Bowman. Global heating is happening because we keep burning fossil fuels which warm up our planet. This is making extreme weather more likely.

“We are already witnessing severe and unusual weather in certain areas of the continent, especially prolonged periods of heat,” Karl Braganza, the head of climate monitoring at BOM, stated during a phone call with reporters on Tuesday. Additionally, Braganza mentioned the occurrence of devastating fires.

He asked Australians to get ready for a hot summer and be aware of the risks of fires.

People in Australia are very worried because they still remember the terrible fires that happened in 2019 to 2020, which were the worst in many years. The fires destroyed a very large area of land, about the size of 10 million football fields. They caused the deaths of many people and a huge number of animals, reaching more than a billion.

However, things are not the same this year. The period leading up to the Black Summer fires was very dry for three years, making the landscapes prone to burning for a long time. However, the recent years in Australia have been wet because of a weather pattern called La Niña, which is the opposite of El Niño.

However, experts warned CNN that it’s not time to relax or be satisfied. Robb Webb, CEO of the National Council for fire and emergency services (AFAC), said that even though a bushfire season as widespread as the Black Summer is unlikely to happen again, it doesn’t mean that the upcoming fire season can’t be dangerous.

The fire outlook report from AFAC, which was released last month, said that there is a higher chance of fire in many areas of the country. This is because the plants that grew during the rainy years are becoming dry quickly.

Bowman explained that when there are long periods of intense heat, it can cause dry landscapes to break. This means that all the healthy plants and vegetation can quickly become very dry and flammable. A mixture of very hot weather and strong wind could make fires very intense and seem like they appear suddenly.

Australians should also expect hot temperatures, in addition to fire. Braganza said that this summer will be hotter than usual and hotter than the past three years.

The temperatures are very high and are already setting new records in the area. On Wednesday, it was very hot at Sydney airport. The temperature reached 35. 9 degrees Celsius, which is 97 degrees Fahrenheit. This was the hottest temperature ever recorded for the month of September. In September, the typical temperature in Sydney is about 20 degrees Celsius (or 68 degrees Fahrenheit).

We don’t know if the summer heat will be very high like never before.

“Each El Niño is unique,” mentioned Andrea Taschetto, a climate expert at the University of New South Wales. This variability makes it difficult to accurately determine the extent of the heat.

However, it is likely that this summer will be the hottest ever, according to what she said.

Some people are more careful. Jason Evans, who is a professor at the University of New South Wales and studies climate, said that although the unusually hot winter is worrisome for extreme heat this summer, he believes that the several years of heavy rain make it less probable for us to see record-breaking temperatures. However, the outcome will be determined by the level of dryness in the upcoming months, he mentioned.

He told CNN that it is clear that climate change is causing extreme weather events to become more severe. He said that extreme heat is getting worse. This is making droughts and heavy rain even worse too.

“According to Bowman, climate change is now becoming the main focus. ” The past is not a good way to predict what will happen in the future. Be prepared for things that you did not anticipate or expect.