Sound familiar? Spring 2014 was Australia’s hottest on record, again

The Conversation

SYDNEY - SUMMER - BONDI
Bathers out in Bondi, as Sydney enjoyed warm September weather. AAP Image/NEWZULU/PETER SCARF

This time last year, it was announced that Australia had experienced its hottest spring on record.

Well, guess what? It’s happened again. The spring of 2014 was hotter still and is the new record-holder.

Across Australia, the average temperature for September to November 2014 was 1.67C warmer than the long-term average. That made it 0.1C hotter than the previous record spring of 2013, and the hottest since high-quality records began in 1910.

Australian spring temperatures, relative to the average for 1961-90. Bureau of Meteorology, Author provided

 

 

As the Bureau of Meteorology’s special climate statement points out, unusual warmth was seen across almost the entire country. It was the hottest spring on record in South Australia and Western Australia, as well as being one of the eight hottest in every other state and territory.

Spring 2014 was hotter than normal across much of Australia. Bureau of Meteorology, Author provided

So did climate change play a role in this record?

Following the record heat of 2013 in Australia, a slew of studies were conducted to investigate whether a human fingerprint could be detected. Five independent investigations into aspects of the 2013 heat all came to the same conclusion: humans were largely to blame.

In one study (see section 9 here), climatologists Sophie Lewis and David Karoly showed that human-induced climate change had increased the risk of an unusually hot spring (like that of 2013) by a factor of at least 30. They did this by comparing model simulations designed to replicate the actual world with modified simulations replicating a world without humans.

Spring 2014 was hotter still and we can be confident that human activity, through greenhouse gas emissions, has loaded the dice in favour of yet more hot weather. In line with Lewis and Karoly’s finding for last year, human activity was very likely a significant factor in the record-breaking spring we have witnessed across Australia in 2014.

Over the coming years we can expect to have more record-breaking hot temperatures in Australia as greenhouse gas concentrations rise further and the human influence on the climate becomes even clearer.

The Conversation

Source: The Conversation. Reproduced with permission.

Comments

5 responses to “Sound familiar? Spring 2014 was Australia’s hottest on record, again”

  1. Cartoonmick Avatar
    Cartoonmick

    Yep, it’s just a matter of time unless the politicians take action instead of forming more committees for research on the environment.

    Politicians are the only people, with authority from the electors, who have the power to take drastic action.

    But they won’t. They just talk about it.

    Cartoon depicts the future . . . .

    https://cartoonmick.wordpress.com/editorial-political/#jp-carousel-205

    Cheers
    Mick

    1. nakedChimp Avatar
      nakedChimp

      “Politicians are the only people, with authority from the electors, who have the power to take drastic action.”

      Question: Who are the electors and what makes you think the politicians aren’t doing exactly what they are supposed to do?

    2. Ross Lentell Avatar
      Ross Lentell

      Cartoonmick, I disagree. You can, we can make a big difference. Floods start as raindrops. It starts with the choices you make, we all make, everydav
      Have a look at estar.net.au

  2. onesecond Avatar
    onesecond

    As a German I simply don’t get the Australians. You live in this enormously hot country that consists of these large deserts and it is getting hotter every day and you still don’t care. We all know German angst is not good in general, but if Germans lived in Australia we’d have had 100% renewable energy supply five years ago and we would push with heightened panic for strict international clima rules every day.

    1. Harry Verberne Avatar
      Harry Verberne

      As well as huge untapped potential solar and wind energy resources Australia also has huge coal and gas resources. Our electricity industry still mainly uses coal (and here in the southern state of Victoria) dirty but abundant brown coal, and these provided plentiful power for decades. Many of us understand change to renewables is essential but such change is being strongly resisted by the coal industry and this resistance is supported by a government which seems to be acting for the coal industry only.

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