It looks like it’s all over bar the shouting for the chance of this year bringing on a “super” El Niño. Or is it? The Bureau of Meteorology has brought the odds of an El Niño event down to 50%, from 70…
The once-popular Loch McNess north of Perth has dried up almost completely after a decades-long dry period.
ron_n_beth/Flickr
Since 1970, average rainfall in the south-west of Western Australia has decreased by nearly a fifth, and the science suggests that this is linked to human-caused climate change. Across Australia, CSIRO…
Australia’s weather is influenced by warm water movements in the Pacific.
Flickr/Shayan USA
We wait in anticipation of droughts and floods when El Niño and La Niña are forecast but what are these climatic events? The simplest way to understand El Niño and La Niña is through the sloshing around…
Drought conditions are set to become more frequent with the changing behaviour of the Indian Ocean.
Peripitus/Wikimedia Commons
Over the past few months, a lot of attention has been paid to the potentially strong El Niño event brewing in the Pacific Ocean. But there is also the potential for an emerging climate phenomenon in the…
The Michigan State University has developed a technology which separates the elements in cow manure to make water and fertiliser…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott met Rural Financial Counselling Service officers In February, but the Commission of Audit has recommended the service be abolished.
Andrew Meares/AAP
Last week’s Commission of Audit advocated a “commonsense approach to handling risks in society,” targeting drought assistance for its role in “discouraging drought preparedness and self-reliance”. The…
We could be in for some warmer weather with an increased risk of drought and bushfires.
Flickr/Len Matthews
We have only just moved into May and despite being seven months away from next summer in the southern hemisphere, climate researchers are seeing the beginnings of what could be the most powerful El Niño…
Golden Bay in New Zealand after damaging flooding in December 2011.
Gerry Draper, via NIWA
Liz Minchin, The Conversation dan Katherine Smyrk, The Conversation
Australians and New Zealanders can now use their computers to help scientists discover if climate change has contributed to record heatwaves, droughts and flooding across both countries. The Weather@home…
Abbott: One rule for farmers, another for manufacturers.
Andrew Meares/AAP
The announcement of drought relief funding for farmers by an Australian prime minister would not normally be a cause for surprise. But last week’s A$324 million drought package comes amid a concerted push…
Melbourne beachgoers battle January’s heatwave. They may need to get used to it.
AAP Image/David Crosling
The State of the Climate 2014 report, released today by the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, confirms that Australia is heating up. It has warmed by 0.9C since 1910, with more in store thanks to the…
Summary of findings from the State of the Climate 2014 report.
State of the Climate 2014
Australia is almost a degree warmer, on average, than it was a century ago, according to the State of the Climate 2014 report compiled by the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology. Australia has warmed by 0.9C…
Tony Abbott may say his government is giving farmers a ‘hand-up’ - as opposed to welfare ‘hand-outs’ - but all publicly funded assistance must be equitable.
AAP/Andrew Meares
The drought package announced by prime minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday included “more generous criteria for accessing income support” by drought-affected farmers. Income support is to be paid through…
A dingo in the wild.
Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre
Dingoes are back in the news, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott raising concerns on ABC radio last week about dingoes in drought-hit areas of Queensland and New South Wales: I’d learnt some years ago on…
Tony Abbott has pledged to help drought-stricken farmers while dismissing the link to climate change.
AAP
Global warming is increasing the risk of heatwaves. This isn’t a hypothetical abstraction that our grandchildren may experience in the distant future. Heatwaves are currently getting hotter, they’re lasting…
El Nino could stoke more extreme bushfire weather.
James975/Flickr
Recently speculation has been rife that the end of 2014 will see an El Niño event — the change in Pacific ocean and atmosphere circulation that is known to produce drought, extreme heat, and fire in Australia…
As prime minister Tony Abbott and his ministers tour drought-affected areas, the pressure is on Cabinet to cobble together a policy package in a hurry.
AAP/Paul Osborne
Australia’s National Drought Policy, introduced in 1992 and recognised internationally as world’s best practice, now appears to be dead. In its place we are seeing back-to-the-future policymaking. This…
Australians sympathise with farmers, but governments need to choose policy carefully.
AAP
Droughts, seasonal fluctuations, and changing commodity prices are a given and unchangeable characteristic of farming. Farmers voluntarily invest in agriculture and expect that the good times will more…
The Amazon contains half of the world’s tropical rainforests.
CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture/Flickr
Drought in the Amazon increases the release of carbon into the atmosphere, according to research published today in Nature. The Amazon plays a key role in the Earth’s climate system, thanks to the extent…
Australia’s very hot January was followed by a very warm September and a worldwide record for November.
BaboMike/Flickr
Blair Trewin, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; David Jones, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Karl Braganza, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Neil Plummer, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, dan Rob Smalley, Australian Bureau of Meteorology
The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed 2013 as Australia’s hottest year since records began in 1910. Average temperatures over the continent have been 1.2C above the 1961-1990 average, breaking the previous…