King, Andrew, David Karoly et al: Climate change’s signature was writ large on Australia’s crazy summer of 2017

Andrew King, David Karoly, , ,

Climate change’s signature was writ large on Australia’s crazy summer of 2017, The Conversation, 2 March 2017 updated

Summarises analysis that links record summer heat to the effects of climate change. Includes a graph taking the story back to 1910. ‘Overall, Australia experienced its 12th-hottest summer on record. NSW had its hottest recorded summer.’

It is clear that human-induced climate change is greatly increasing the likelihood of record hot summers in NSW and Australia as a whole … We are seeing more frequent and intense heatwaves across Australia as the climate warms. While the characteristics of these weather events vary a great deal from year to year, the recent heat over eastern Australia has been exceptional. These trends are projected to continue in the coming decades, meaning that the climate change signal in these events will strengthen as conditions diverge further from historical averages.

Rebecca Jones of the ANU has a chapter in The Honest History Book (coming in April). The chapter is called ‘Fire, droughts and flooding rains: Environmental influences on Australian history’.

Guardian Australia report on the State of the Environment report. Climate Council report, ‘Angry Summer’. Lesley Hughes in Pearls and Irritations. About a World Meteorological Organisation report.

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