Latest reports suggest that Australia’s winter of 2023 was the warmest since official records began in 1910, with average daily temperatures 1.53C above the long-term average.
According to available data from the Bureau of Meteorology released on Friday, the 2023 winter beat the previous record of 1.46C above the average set in 1996. Every winter since 2012 has been warmer than the 30-year average calculated from 1961 to 1990.
Global heating and weather conditions that delivered sunny days were behind the record, scientists said. For maximum temperatures, the 2023 winter was 1.85C above average, ranking second behind the mark of 1.94C set in 2017.
The Australian winter is June, July and August and over the past two decades, only the winters of 2012 and 2007 have been below average for temperatures.
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The eastern region of the continent was particularly hot this year, with the temperature 2.03C above average – easily beating the previous record of 1.66C set in 2013. Queensland, Tasmania and New South Wales all experienced their hottest winters on record, with all other states and territories seeing temperatures in the top 10 years for heat.
Dr Simon Grainger, who is a senior climatologist at the bureau, said that there were two reasons for the winter heat. High-pressure systems had sat over much of the continent’s south-east, bringing sunnier and drier conditions. Global warming was also a factor.
The record winter comes as large parts of the country were warned last week to expect an increased risk of springtime bushfires. Scientists have also expressed concerns about an expected El Nińo climate pattern that increases the chances of hotter and drier conditions could bring a dangerous summer of bushfires.
In his reaction, Dr Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, said that the winter warmth was “pretty consistent with the trend towards warming that we have already seen and expect to continue as we keep emitting greenhouse gases”.
King further stated that the high-pressure systems that brought the extra warmth were “part of the story”, adding “we would not get the temperatures that we have seen this winter really happening without human-caused climate change”.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
