‘Angry’ Australian summer weather smashes records - and it’s only going to get worse
Australia endured a summer of record-breaking extremes, scientists said on Wednesday, with climate change tipped to increase the frequency and severity of such phenomena.
Climate change – driven largely by the burning of coal, oil and gas – is cranking up the intensity of extreme weather events
Intense heatwaves, bushfires and flooding plagued the December-February summer season with more than 200 records broken over 90 days, the independent Climate Council said in a report.
“Climate change – driven largely by the burning of coal, oil and gas – is cranking up the intensity of extreme weather events,” the “Angry Summer” report said.
“Days of extreme heat and heatwaves will become even more frequent and severe in Australia, and will increase the risks to critical infrastructure (electricity, etc), the economy, health and ecosystems.”
Australia has warmed by approximately 1.0 degrees Celsius since 1910, according to the biannual State of the Climate report from the Bureau of Meteorology and national science body CSIRO released in October.
While bushfires are common in Australia’s arid summers, climate change has pushed up land and sea temperatures and led to more extremely hot days and severe fire seasons.