2018 among hottest and driest years so far in parts of Australia

As a bushfire burned out of control south-west of Canberra and temperatures in Sydney climbed towards the high 30s, new data showed 2018 had so far been among the hottest and driest years on record for parts of Australia.

 A water bombing airplane drops fire retardant at
the Pierces Creek bushfire near Canberra on Friday. 

The months from January to October were some of the driest on record for New South Wales, Victoria and the Murray Darling basin regions, despite the recent rainfall.

The monthly drought statement from the Bureau of Meteorology (Bom) also says Australia’s maximum temperatures so far this year have been the second warmest on record – 1.41C above average.

New South Wales had its hottest January to October period on record at 2.2C above average, and Victoria equalled its 2014 record of 1.48C above average.

Read the from The Guardian by Lisa Cox - “2018 among hottest and driest years so far in parts of Australia.”

Could the heat and extreme weather shift climate change denial?

London: Huge, deadly wildfires in Greece and California, forest fires out of control across Sweden, a record-setting heatwave in northern Europe, heatstroke deaths up fourfold in a baking Tokyo … and British academic Dr Rupert Read got a call.

The heatwave grips the UK - will it budge
 the thinking of climate change deniers?

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire wanted the Green House think tank chairman to debate climate change on air with a climate science denier.

He's done it before. This time he got a bit hot under the collar.

"I said NO," Read said, in a Tweet that has since been retweeted tens of thousands of times.

"I told them it was a disgrace that they still give climate deniers airtime at a time like this. I won't be part of such charades any longer.”

Read the story from The Age by Nick Miller - “Could the heat and extreme weather shift climate change denial?”

California fires bear down on exclusive Los Angeles suburbs

Los Angeles: At least six homes in one of Los Angeles wealthiest suburbs - the iconic Bel Air - have been destroyed and a winery owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch is under threat as a firestorm in California burns out of control.

A wildfire threatens a home in Ventura, California.

Part of Murdoch's Moraga Bel Air vineyard, where the 86-year-old Australian has a home, has been destroyed by fire, and it is one of a number of properties affected by a mandatory evacuation order, issued by emergency services today.

The fires have also closed one of America's busiest freeways - the traffic-choked 405 - with video emerging of one of the four fires reaching the edge of the freeway.

The pre-dawn sky of Los Angeles was lit bright orange with fire as traffic moved at a slow, silent crawl past the inferno until police made the decision to close a 15km stretch of the freeway because of the risk.

Read Michael Idato’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “California fires bear down on exclusive Los Angeles suburbs.”

Donald Trump, climate vandal, springs to action on the environment

Happy days are here to stay longer? Exxon
Mobil's Billings Refinery in Billings, Montana.

Washington: He lied – again. US President Donald Trump had car manufacturers in on Tuesday, giving them the rounds of the kitchen for locating their factories abroad – but assuring them he'd reduce "out of control" environmental regulations.

And lest he be seen as the climate vandal that most in the environmental movement fear he is, Trump touted his greenie credentials at the meeting: "I'm a very big person when it comes to the environment – I've received awards on the environment."

Nope! And when reporters asked for a list of the awards, the White House referred them to a book. Nope, again – instead of listing what the President had won, it listed what the author, Trump's longtime environmental consultant, thought he should have won.

But Trump's encounter with the car makers proved to be just a warm-up act for his inner vandal – later in the morning fears that he would drag the US back towards the yesteryears of fossil fuels were confirmed with his decision to revive two controversial projects, the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access oil pipelines.

Read Paul McGeough’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Donald Trump, climate vandal,springs to action on the environment.”