NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed.
The numbers are in: 2013 was the hottest year on record in Australia since records began.
WHO: Will Steffen, Australian National University, Canberra Australia
WHAT: A report on how many heat records were broken in Australia last year
WHEN: January 2014
WHERE: The Climate Council website
TITLE: Off the Charts: 2013 Australia’s Hottest Year (open access)
Last week in Australia it was stinking hot. I was texting with my brother (who is doing a PhD in Meteorology so is also a massive nerd like me) about the heatwave forecast and we came up with a new term for what an overnight minimum temperature should be called when it’s too high. We decided that an overnight low of 28.6oC should be called a ‘lower maximum’ because that’s too hot to sleep in.
Unfortunately, this is the new normal for Australia, which has just been shown in excellent infographic form by the Australian Climate Council. It was a banner year for Australia last year breaking all kinds of heat records and having the hottest average temperature since record keeping started in 1910.
It looks pretty, but it’s so hot the sand burns your feet. Mornington Peninsula, Vic (photo: Amy Huva)
Now, I know we Australians are a competitive people who always like to win, but breaking these records are not so much fun.
Nationally, the records broken were:
- Highest average temperature across the country 1.20oC higher than the 1961-90 baseline years
- Highest mean maximum temperature across the country 1.45oC above the baseline years
- Mean minimum temperature across the country of 0.94oC above baseline years
- Hottest January on record
- Hottest summer on record (Dec 2012-Feb 2013)
- Hottest winter day on record – August 31st 29.92oC
- Hottest September on record of 2.75oC above baseline
- Hottest spring on record
- Hottest December on record
Locally, some of the notable records were:
- South Australia broke their spring monthly average temperature record by 5.39oC
- New South Wales broke their spring monthly average temperature record by 4.68oC
- Alice Springs had their hottest October day ever of 42.6oC
- Canberra’s October was 2.5oC above average
- West Kimberly in Western Australia was a shocking 4oC above average for October
Sea Surface Temperatures were record highest for January and February 2013 and of the 21 days Australia has ever had with a country-wide average temperature above 39oC there were 8 of them in 2013 and 7 of them happened consecutively in January 2013! Remember in the news when Australia had to create a new colour on their temperature maps? That was then.
Even worse, this extreme heat was not pumped up with the influence of El Niño, which normally makes years warmer. The year had no strong El Niño or La Niña effect, so it was a climate-changed year.
Since 1950, the number of heat records has beaten the cold records in Australia at a rate of 3:1 and in true Australian style; we’ve exceeded expectations and broken all kinds of records. This is the new normal, and it’s only going to get worse unless we stop burning carbon.
Infographic by the Climate Council.
