Mental health problems cause profound suffering and are worthy of attention for that reason alone. But despite policy and service reform, such problems remain as common, expensive and disabling as they…
Derivatives can allow farmers to reduce their risk by guarding against changes in the weather.
Flickr
For some industries, the weather plays a significant role in determining revenue. Unexpected weather events can often cause significant financial losses. For instance, a drought can yield a severe impact…
A precise weather forecast, months in advance, will never be possible.
Matt Smith
“Prediction is very difficult. Especially about the future” – so said Neils Bohr, the Danish physicist and 1922 Nobel Prize winner. And you know what? I think the bloke was onto something there, especially…
This past Christmas, Darwin waited with unnecessary nervousness as Cyclone Grant developed to our north. It missed us, but on Boxing Day it dumped 385mm of rain into the Edith River. The resulting flood…
A satellite picture of Cyclone Yasi from the Japanese weather satellite MTSAT 1R.
German Meteorological Society/DPA
Australia’s Chief Scientist Ian Chubb has more than once described the Australia of the past as a “mendicant country” regarding science. While this is a controversial, perhaps overly-broad, generalisation…
The “reasonable person” would agree that disaster risk is best avoided. Under a changing climate, how exposed people are to risk and how socially and physically vulnerable they are affects how often disasters…
Bushfires are part of the Australian landscape and the psyche of its human inhabitants. This is particularly true as months of hot, dry weather approach. Recent warnings have predicted a dire summer ahead…
The way scientific success is measured has negatively impacted on the new model army.
Cristof Stache/AFP
Storm clouds are gathering in the world of weather and climate modelling – a discipline that saves lives and property every day and has revolutionised our lives in recent decades. What we might call the…
We don’t know which storms will turn into deadly tornadoes.
RAGardner4
Everyone loves a good storm. Rolling thunder, a spectacular light show and fat drops of rain that make the earth smell like summer. Although thunderstorms are far more belligerent than your average cloud…
Billions of energy-investment dollars are exposed to the vagaries of climate. Those billions include dollars committed to or planned for renewable energy generation in this country. Now a new branch of…
Climate models allow us to look at the planet’s future climate.
Truthout.org
We know the climate is changing because that’s what climate models tell us. But what exactly is a climate model, and are they cutting-edge science or modelling madness? What is a climate model? Climate…
In the future, private companies may provide your daily dose of sunshine.
clooky
The world of weather forecasting is still dominated by government agencies and national weather services, but there’s now a steady drip-drip of private forecasters. While they’re not exactly flooding the…
The East African drought is one of the area’s worst in 60 years.
AAP
2010 was the world’s hottest year on record, with global temperatures 0.53°C above the long-term (1961-1990) average. 2011 started with a strong La Niña (perhaps the strongest since 1917), something which…
The humanitarian crisis in the Horn continues to escalate.
EPA/DAI KUROKAWA
While droughts are caused by weather – the failure of the rains – famines are invariably political. The current famine in southern Somalia should have come as no surprise. Aid agencies have been warning…
With the UN declaring famine in Somalia for the first time since 1992, and other countries in the Horn of Africa suffering critical food shortages, this already unstable region is facing devastation. Drought-stricken…
Looks the same to me… our personal experiences are not the best indicators of change.
P León/flickr
We see it in the media all the time. Regular beachgoers who see no evidence for sea-level rise, farmers trusting long-term experience over Bureau of Meteorology forecasting, Antarctic sea-captains whose…
By punching holes in clouds, aircraft may accidentally be boosting precipitation near airports, a study found.
Flickr/J Mark Dodds
Holes created by planes flying through clouds near airports may cause a slight increase in rain or snowfall in the local area, a new study has found. Scientists who studied the effect have likened it to…