Australia is already experiencing 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming – will this increase?

Article by Eric Worrell

Still waiting for the promised climate catastrophe.

Australia has become 1.5 degrees hotter

go through Bianca Hall
October 31, 2024 – 12 am

Australia's average temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees for the first time since records began, putting the world on track to exceed the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

It's the latest sobering assessment from scientists and meteorologists from CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, who have been mapping Australia's climate change for 14 years.

Their latest biennial State of the Climate report, released on Thursday, shows average temperatures continue to rise steadily, while the average number of extreme bushfire days per year has increased by up to 25 in some parts of the country.

Two years ago, temperatures in Australia had risen by an average of 1.47 degrees since records began in 1910.

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Find out more: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australia-is-already-1-5- Degrees-hotter-20241029-p5kmb1.html

Records that “began” in 1910 easily missed what was probably Australia's worst ever heat wave, the Commonwealth Drought of 1895-1903. , but government climate scientists believe the recent drought will be even hotter.

An 1896 heat wave killed 435 people, but scientists say today's extreme heat events are still hotter

Authors: Sophie Meixner and Daniel South
Saturday, December 21, 2019

At the end of the 19th century, Australia suffered from a severe heat wave that killed 435 people and caused hundreds to flee.

Key points:

• Bourke, New South Wales, reached 48.9 degrees Celsius three times in 1896, with the highest temperature reaching 38 degrees Celsius for more than three consecutive weeks.
• But climate scientists say the method of recording temperatures in 1896 was flawed and today's heatwaves are even hotter
• They say the high death toll in 1896 was due to communities being more vulnerable to heat events

Heatwaves during the Commonwealth Drought of 1895-96 recorded Australia's deadliest heatwave record, followed by 2009, which recorded at least 432 heatwave deaths.

During the 1896 incident, the town of Bourke lost at least 40 people, or 1.6% of the town's population, while Sydney authorities reported that hospitals were on the verge of collapse and pedestrians collapsed in the streets.

Newspaper reports stated that the temperature in Bourque reached 48.9 degrees Celsius three times, and the highest temperature remained above 38 degrees Celsius for 24 consecutive days.

Australia has experienced a series of intense and record-breaking heatwaves this summer, with the 1896 event sometimes seen as evidence that Australia has been experiencing unusually hot weather and that the effects of climate change have been exaggerated.

But climate scientists say that's an oversimplification and that the heat waves we're experiencing today are much hotter than in the past.

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It was not until August 1908 that Burke installed the Stevenson screen, which meant that previous temperature readings were probably 2 degrees Celsius higher.

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Find out more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-21/1896-heatwave-killed-435-climate-scientists-cant-compare-today/11809998

The implication of the above article is that modern temperature records are stringent compared to the past and ignore many of the problems with modern temperature records. Australian climate scientist Jennifer Morohasy has launched a long-running campaign to force the Bureau of Meteorology to admit they are not perfect.