Sydney: Australians throughout much of their vast brown land sweltered through one of the hottest summers on record while other regions were battered by heavy rain, according to the nation’s official weather authority.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s (BOM) latest climate summary showed Western Australia (WA) had its seventh warmest summer since records began in 1910, with its capital Perth recording its hottest ever season, Xinhua news agency reported.
BOM climatologist Andrew Watkins noted 2022 began with intense heat in WA, with the state’s Onslow Airport hitting 50.7 degrees Celsius on January 13, to equal Australia’s hottest ever day, while Perth endured a record-breaking six consecutive days at above 40 degrees Celsius during that month.
Turning to other states, Watkins said people in some regions of Victoria experienced temperatures of up to 2 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average, with January night time temperatures being the warmest on record across most of the state.
Meanwhile, the island state of Tasmania recorded its fifth warmest ever summer.
“La Nina in the tropical Pacific played a role in what we saw in summer,” Watkins said. “But there were also persistent high-pressure systems in the Great Australian Bight.”
“These enhanced the flow of moist air onto the east coast, but also meant drier than usual conditions in the southwest and southeast of Australia.”
The months of December to February were wetter than usual for most of South Australia (SA), which recorded its fourth-wettest January as major transport routes were disrupted by floodwaters.
Watkins said tropical moisture throughout the second half of January brought heavy rain to SA, with some areas recording more than five times their average rainfall for that month.
He said summer rainfall was also above average for much of New South Wales (NSW) and southeastern Queensland.
“These regions had the wettest February since at least 1893, mostly caused by a single destructive event that caused widespread flooding,” Watkins said, adding that parts of southeastern Queensland had 175 per cent of the summer average rainfall in the final six days of February.
Watkins said the BOM was continuing to monitor flood risks across the nation’s southeast after repeated seasons of wetter-than-average conditions and he urged people to “remain alert” over autumn.
“We strongly encourage people to stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings on the Bureau’s website, the BOM Weather App, and our social media channels,” he said.
