Artic-like blast an example of global warming

G

lobal warming means many things and will bring difficult to understand changes to our weather, and the present blast of artic-like weather in south eastern Australia is just another of those puzzles.

Sonya Fiddes - don't hold
 out for future snows.

However, the wintery chill being experienced in those southern states, including most of New South Wales and South Australia, is not a surprise to climatologists and other scientists who understand global warming and the mysterious (to the layman) disruptions  to the world’s climate system.

The Guardian reports that people as far north as Glen Innes on the New South Wales north coast are being warned to prepare for possible snowfall, as a cold front brings below-freezing temperatures to most of south-east Australia.

It story - “Cold front to bring below-freezing temperatures to south-east Australia” – says, “Mick Logan, a meteorologist with the NSW Bureau of Meteorology, said it could be the most impressive widespread snowfall since 2000, with five to 10cm of snow expected down to altitudes of 700 metres in the southern and central ranges, and snow down to 900 metres expected in the northern tablelands.”

Meanwhile a climate extremes researcher at University of Melbourne, Sonya Fiddes, writes on The Conversation that this weekend is predicted to be the coldest of the year and perhaps the coldest we have had in Australia for a few years.

“Much of central and eastern Australia is bracing itself for temperatures 3-7C below average, with the four-day cold spell likely to bring rain, hail, cold winds and frosts across the country.

“Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales are expected to see the majority of the rainfall and minimum temperatures below zero for large parts of south eastern Australia,” she writes.

Read her piece - “Winter is coming, but don’t hold out for future snows.”