‘It’s like hell here’: Australia bakes as record temperatures nudge 50C

It was 48.9C last Tuesday in Port Augusta, South Australia, an old harbour city that now harvests solar power. Michelle Coles, the owner of the local cinema, took off her shoes at night to test the concrete before letting the dogs out. “People tend to stay at home,” she said. “They don’t walk around when it’s like this.”

 A sign warns bathers of the extreme heat on Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia.

It’s easy to see why: in the middle of the day it takes seconds to blister a dog’s paw or child’s foot. In Mildura, in northern Victoria, last week gardeners burned their hands when they picked up their tools, which had been left in the sun at 46C. Fish were dying in the rivers.

Almost every day last week a new heat record was broken in Australia. They spread out, unrelenting, across the country, with records broken for all kinds of reasons – as if the statistics were finding an infinite series of ways to say that it was hot.

Read the story from The Guardian by Naaman Zhou - “‘It’s like hell here’: Australia bakes as record temperatures nudge 50C.”

National records melt in 'prolonged spell of heat' with more to come.

A huge swathe of Australia baked in mid-40 degree heat on Friday, with more records likely to be broken at the tail-end of a heatwave that set a slew of national highs last month.

A view of the sun rise from Newport beach in Sydney's
north on December 28, 2018 - the warmest night on
 record for Australia for that month.CREDIT:

The mercury was tipped to reach at least 45 degrees over a region stretching from northern Western Australia into Victoria and the NSW Riverina.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Hannam - “National records melt in 'prolonged spell of heat' with more to come.”

Australia’s 2017 environment scorecard: like a broken record, high temperatures further stress our ecosystems.

While rainfall conditions were generally good across Australia in 2017, record-breaking temperatures stressed our ecosystems on land and sea, according to our annual environmental scorecard. Unfortunately, it looks like those records will be broken again next year – and again in the years after that.

Indicators of Australia’s environment in 2017 compared to the
 previous year. Similar to national economic indicators
they provide a summary, but also hide regional variations,
complex interactions and long-term context.

Our terrestrial environment has done relatively well in 2017, mainly thanks to good rainfall and leftover soil moisture from the year before. However, such a short summary for a country the size of a continent is bound to hide large regional differences. 2017 was no exception.

Western Australia and the Northern Territory received good rains, with vegetation growth, river flows and wetland area all coming in above average. By contrast, Queensland and particularly New South Wales saw a reversal of the previous year’s gains.

Read the story from The Conversation - “Australia’s 2017 environment scorecard: like a broken record, high temperatures further stress our ecosystems.”

Get ready for deluge

Records are expected to be broken in the next two days with the Bureau of Meteorology expecting the Goulburn Valley to be hit hard by thunderstorms bringing from 100 mm to 200 mm of rainfall.

Senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said the bureau made the unprecedented move to issue severe weather and flood warnings on Wednesday to give people time to prepare for the band of heavy rain and thunderstorms slowly moving across southern Australia today and tomorrow.

Desperate: Some farmers have worked during the
 night frantically harvesting their crops, in a race
 to beat the bumper rainfall.

‘‘We had a week of hot, humid weather and north-easterly winds have brought tropical air full of moisture that will combine with a strong low-pressure system over the Mallee, where it will develop and then slowly move east,’’ Mr Carlyon said.

‘‘There will be substantial rainfall, the Goulburn Valley’s December rainfall average of 40 mm will be reached and some locations across Victoria might end up with their summer average in the first two days of December.’’

The heavy rain is forecast to start falling at the end of this morning, with 50 mm to 80 mm predicted, while tomorrow is expected to bring a soaking of 50 mm to 100 mm.

There could be large hail and the possibility of damaging winds across both days.

Mr Carlyon said a few showers would be left on Sunday and there are also potential showers forecast on Monday and Tuesday that could have a significant impact on river levels.

‘‘I think there will be records broken, it’s difficult to compare to the 2010 weather event, but basic rainfall records for either one or two days are likely to be broken,’’ he said.

Widespread flooding is likely from today onwards in the catchments and people are asked to stay informed and monitor conditions.

The main rivers under flood watch are the Ovens, King, Broken and the Goulburn. The Seven and Castle creeks are also under a flood watch and flooding may occur on the Campaspe River.

‘‘Plans are being cancelled or amended and I think if you can, it’s best to stay indoors,’’ Mr Carlyon said.

‘‘Local roads may be closed and low bridges may be underwater. Water crossings along streams and rivers will become dangerous as water levels rise.’’

The bureau has also released an advice warning for the potential of brown rot to form on stone fruit because of the high humidity levels the storms will bring.

Victorian Farmers Association president David Jochinke said the low-pressure system may dump more than 300 mm of rain in Victoria’s north-east, which could spoil remaining crops.

Some farmers have worked during the night frantically harvesting their crops, in a race to beat the bumper rainfall.

Goulburn-Murray Water is urging its customers and northern Victorian communities to keep an eye on updates from the bureau ahead of significant rain expected.

G-MW’s managing director Pat Lennon said the customer operations team was monitoring the situation closely and working with storage staff, the bureau and State Emergency Services representatives.

‘‘Some of G-MW’s water storages are already near capacity and others may receive significant inflows. We are currently preparing for the forecast conditions in accordance with our operational arrangements,’’ Mr Lennon said.

‘‘Please keep an eye on BOM updates and heed any flood advice they may issue. Flood warnings will be issued by BOM.

‘‘People living near rivers, creeks, storages need to monitor the situation and prepare themselves and their properties, according to their flood plan.’’ 

• G-MW customers are reminded that before pumping any excess flood water from their property into G-MW irrigation or drainage channels, they must first seek permission from a planner via WaterLINE on 1300 469 469. Residents can monitor flood warnings on the Emergency Management website at www.emv.vic.gov.au and request emergency assistance by phoning the State Emergency Service on 132 500.

Story by Declan Martin from today’s Shepparton News - “Get ready for deluge.”

Heat records tumble, yet Federal decision makers aren't looking

T

he records continue to pile up and yet our decision makers, at least at a federal level, still consider what we are seeing is “natural variation”.

The ABC reports that more than a dozen outback Queensland towns have broken their records for the hottest March day.

Its story - “Queensland heatwave: More than a dozen towns break March records” – says, “Hot, dry air has built up over the interior and northerly winds have pushed it further inland than normal for this time of year.”

Planning a carbon-rich world strikingly different from what's needed now

City planning in a carbon-rich world is strikingly different from what will be needed, and essential, if we are to endure in a carbon-constrained world.

A new book released just this week by Melbourne’s Grattan Institute examines the planning that it claims is “broken”, particularly Melbourne and Sydney.

The book: “City Limits: Why Australia's Cities are Broken and How We Can Fix Them” had been published by Melbourne University Press.

A story in today’s Melbourne Age headed: “Melbourne's planning disaster: jobs boom in CBD while affordable housing grows everoutwards in suburbs” discusses the disconnect between where the jobs are and where people can afford to live.

What wasn’t alluded to, but is a clear implication, is the wider cost to society in the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the constant commuting forced upon people when jobs are in one place and their homes are in another, frequently an hour or more way.

Any reasonable response to climate change demands that we live with easy walking or cycling distance of where it is we work – some people have advocated that we live in a “10-minute world”, meaning that most everything needed for day-to-day survival is within 10 minutes of where we live.

Heat records tumble as Australia warms up

Heat records tumble.

Records are not uncommon in Australia.

Some sought, some we just hope would never happen.

Well, it seems some we hoped would never happen are gathering this year with The Guardian reporting that Australia is on track for its hottest ever calendar year.

In a story headed: “Australia is on track for its warmest ever year, says study”, readers are told that more than 100 heat related records have been broken in the past year.

Considering the 'new normal'

Wesleyan University.

The question “Hurricane Sandy; the new normal?” has been asked on The Conversation by Gary W. Yohe.

The Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies at Wesleyan University is also the co-chair of America’s Global Change and Climate Change Research Program.

Yohe points to a multitude of recent evidence that suggests, or rather proves, that what was witnessed on America’s east coast was a direct outcome of climate change.

He says, in arguing that the “old normal is broken” that: “We have very high confidence that this is true, and it means that decisions taken at every level must henceforth recognise that the climate is dynamic and that the future will not look like the past.

The final one-line paragraph of Yohe’s story warrants our contemplation and then, action.