Extreme weather – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

‘Brow-raising browning. Rachael Treharne

November 26, 2018

The Arctic is turning brown because of weird weather – and it could accelerate climate change

Rachael Treharne, University of Sheffield

Extreme climatic events are harming plant communities in the Arctic. The resulting colour change is bad news for the region’s carbon storage.

Satellite image from Himawari-8. The bright pink spot indicates the dust storm location. UK Met Office

November 23, 2018

Sydney’s orange sky reminds us how unpredictable dust storms can be

Claire Ryder, University of Reading

Dust storms look spectacular but are a serious health hazard. As climate change dries up many areas of the world, what can we expect from these storms in future?

Mangroves growing strong. Ali Suliman/Shutterstock

November 20, 2018

Mangrove forests can rebound thanks to climate change – it’s an opportunity we must take

Christian Dunn, Bangor University

Mangrove forests grow in the tidal lagoons of tropical coastlines and they could actually benefit from climate change. Here’s what that means for us.

October 17, 2018

Anthill 30: Extremes

Jonathan Este, The Conversation; Laura Hood, The Conversation; Annabel Bligh, The Conversation; Gemma Ware, The Conversation, and Madeleine De Gabriele, The Conversation

A podcast on extremes: from far-right politics, to life in conflict zones and the extreme weather of Australia.

Climate change denial, underwater. Matt Brown/Flickr

October 10, 2018

Don’t be afraid to talk about the costs of dealing with climate change

Brian Greenhill, University at Albany, State University of New York; Aseem Prakash, University of Washington, and Nives Dolsak, University of Washington

The results of a study that measured public responses to a policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions contradict a common environmental concern.

October 8, 2018

New UN report outlines ‘urgent, transformational’ change needed to hold global warming to 1.5°C

Mark Howden, Australian National University and Rebecca Colvin, Australian National University

Limiting global warming to 1.5C is a tough challenge but still within reach, according to a landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change commissioned after the 2015 Paris summit.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s tropical cyclone outlook is out today. AAP Image/Bureau of Meteorology, Japan Meteorological Agency

October 7, 2018

Trust Me, I’m An Expert: Cyclone season approacheth, but this year there’s a twist

Madeleine De Gabriele, The Conversation and Wes Mountain, The Conversation

Cyclone season approacheth, but this year there’s a twist The Conversation, CC BY31.4 MB (download)

Australia must come to terms with some fundamental shifts in our weather patterns. This month, Andrew Watkins from the BOM and climate scientist Joelle Gergis explore what's in store.

As extreme weather events, like Hurricane Florence, become more common it is time to ask what it will take for the world to finally tackle climate change. Encouragingly, there may be a historical precedent: Victoria London’s handling of the ‘Great Stink’, where growth had turned the River Thames into an open sewer. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

September 27, 2018

Will 2018 be the year of climate action? Victorian London’s ‘Great Stink’ sewer crisis might tell us

Christian Turney, UNSW Sydney

As climate extremes mount, let’s reflect on Victorian London’s ‘Great Stink’ sewage crisis - when things finally became so bad authorities were forced to accept evidence, reject sceptics, and act.

Icy hailstones can do major damage, depending where they land. AP Photo/Nati Harnik

September 20, 2018

Destructive 2018 hail season a sign of things to come

Samuel Childs, Colorado State University

The future climate that scientists predict for the middle of the United States is one that will foster more hail events with bigger hailstones.

August 24, 2018

Why it’s so hard to detect the fingerprints of global warming on monsoon rains

Jonathan Eden, Coventry University

Kerala floods show the relationship between climate change and extreme rainfall is complex.

A real fire in southern New South Wales - not to be confused with the metaphorical one in the halls of Canberra. AAP Image/Darren Pateman

August 22, 2018

Australia burns while politicians fiddle with the leadership

Sophie Lewis, UNSW Sydney and Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, UNSW Sydney

With New South Wales suffering winter bushfires and temperature records tumbling around the globe, our leaders in Canberra have picked a bad time to jettison climate policy in favour of political bickering.

Melbourne’s temperatures have periodically spiked far beyond what its residents are used to. AAP Image/Ellen Smith

August 14, 2018

Melbourne and Adelaide have been Australia’s most vulnerable major cities to killer heatwaves

Thomas Longden, University of Technology Sydney

Heatwaves can cause a large number of deaths, especially when vulnerable groups are unprepared and are not acclimatised to hot temperatures.

It was a hot year for many Australians. ABCNews/David McMeekin

April 11, 2018

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

Albert Van Dijk, Australian National University and Madeleine Cahill, CSIRO

An annual assessment of the health of Australia’s environment shows mostly stable conditions in 2017, but ecosystems on land and at sea suffered ever higher temperatures.

Very wet weather is likely to persuade many regular cyclists and walkers to travel instead by car if they can. This is Bondi Junction after a storm hit Sydney. David Moir/AAP

April 8, 2018

Too wet? Too cold? Too hot? This is how weather affects the trips we make

Jonathan Corcoran, The University of Queensland; Dorina Pojani, The University of Queensland; Francisco Rowe, University of Liverpool; Jiangping Zhou, University of Hong Kong; Jiwon Kim, The University of Queensland; Ming Wei, The University of Queensland; Sui Tao, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Thomas Sigler, The University of Queensland, and Yan Liu, The University of Queensland

The relationship between weather and our travel choices is complicated. We can’t change the weather, but, with many other factors in play, good policy and design can reduce its impacts.

The British First Fleet knew little of conditions in Port Jackson, later Sydney Cove, before their arrival. George Edwards Peacock, State Library of New South Wales.

April 1, 2018

Black skies and raging seas: how the First Fleet got a first taste of Australia’s unforgiving climate

Joelle Gergis, The University of Melbourne

When the First Fleet sailed into Sydney Cove in 1788, they entered an ancient and unforgiving landscape. A new book charts Australians’ relationship with one of the world’s most volatile climates.

Floods in South East Queensland follow a 40-year cycle, and planners should take note. AAP Image

March 18, 2018

Floods don’t occur randomly, so why do we still plan as if they do?

Anthony Kiem, University of Newcastle

Engineering practice assumes that floods are randomly distributed but science suggests they are not. This raises questions about the reliability of flood infrastructure and management strategies.

March 5, 2018

Thousands of starfish have washed up dead after the ‘Beast from the East’ – here’s why

Coleen Suckling, Bangor University

Extreme weather led to starfish mass strandings along beaches in Kent and East Yorkshire.

University of Maine, Climate Change Institute

March 2, 2018

‘Beast from the East’ and freakishly warm Arctic temperatures are no coincidence

Peter Inness, University of Reading

But it’s too early to tell whether climate change is to blame.

People collect water piped in from a mountain creek in Utuado, Puerto Rico on Oct. 14, 2017, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans were still without running water. AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa

January 25, 2018

Why climate change is worsening public health problems

Chelsey Kivland, Dartmouth College and Anne Sosin, Dartmouth College

Climate change threatens to widen the health gap between the haves and have-nots. Here’s why addressing environmental issues that drive poor health is a starting point.

Extreme cold weather in Atlanta, Ga., on Jan. 3, 2018. AP Photo/David Goldman

January 19, 2018

Climate change and weather extremes: Both heat and cold can kill

Garth Heutel, Georgia State University; David Molitor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Nolan Miller, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Many parts of the US have experienced extreme heat or extreme cold in the past year. Recent research projects that climate change will increase deaths from both types of weather, especially cold spells.

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