[Vision2020] Australian Government: Persistent Southern Heat Wave

[Ted Moffett]

As our recent cooler than normal weather on the Palouse led some local
residents to rejoice that indeed anthropogenic global warming is a hoax,
let's hope they are correct!  Because down under they have been experiencing
a record breaking heat wave, at the beginning of what is their Fall season
in March.

Read these temperature data carefully, because this is a way serious heat
wave, over a large area, over a period of weeks.  Of course, this does not
prove, any more than our local cold weather recently disproved, the theory
of long term global warming from human sourced CO2 emissions.  It does,
however, perhaps put into perspective that it is the global average
temperature over decades that reveals or refutes climate change, not local
seasonal variations, some of which are predicted to potentially be cooler
than in the past, even in a warming global climate.

This March, 2008 heat wave in Australia to some extent cancels out the cool
weather locally, and some of the cooler global average temperatures during
January and February 2008 (NOAA ranks climatological winter (Dec. Jan.
Feb.) 2007-8 as the 16th warmest globally, land and sea combined, since
record keeping started in the 1800s), in the yearly global average
temperature that will be figured for 2008:

http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/ho/20080320.shtml

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080313_coolest.html

Adelaide had 15 consecutive days above 35 °C and 13 consecutive days above
37.8 °C (100°F), breaking the previous records of 8 and 7 days respectively.
These represent new records for any Australian capital city. Also breaking
consecutive day records were Ceduna which had 12 days over 35°C, Mildura
which had 14 days over 35 °C, and Kyancutta which had 13 days over 40°C.

In addition to the prolonged heat wave conditions, a number of record high
temperatures for March were set, both for daily maximum and overnight
minimums.

In Tasmania, Hobart reached 37.3 °C on 14 March which matched the record
March high temperature from 13 March in 1940. At nearby Campania, the
temperature reached 38.0 °C – the highest March temperature ever recorded in
Tasmania.

In Western Australia, Eyre set a new all-time Australian record for the
range of temperatures observed in one day. The overnight minimum of 6.8°C
warmed to a maximum of a 44.2°C on 5 March, setting a new record single-day
temperature range of 37.4 C.

Not only were the days hot, but warm nights also made sleep uncomfortable
for many. Records for the hottest March nights were set in both Adelaide
(30.2°C overnight on 13/14 March) and Melbourne (26.9°C overnight on 17/18
March.)

Mean maximum temperatures for the period 1 – 17 March are running far above
average, with some locations in South Australia 12°C or more above their
normal March value.

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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