New South Wales battles dozens of winter bushfires

16 August 2018 (BBC News) – Emergency crews in Australia are battling unseasonal bushfires which have erupted across drought-stricken New South Wales (NSW). Almost 80 fires were burning along the state’s coast on Thursday, having ripped through more than 1,000 hectares in recent days. No lives or homes were in immediate danger, according to officials. […]

Sydney’s bushfire season now starts in winter – “We may have to rethink how we live”

By Lisa Cox 15 August 2018 SYDNEY (The Guardian) – At first the smoke on the horizon “didn’t look like anything major,” says Joe Mercieca of that day in 2013. But then the wind picked up. His house in the Blue Mountains, an hour and a half out of Sydney, was soon surrounded by the […]

Bushfires in South Australia amid severe heatwave in south-eastern states – “Take shelter inside a solid building. Do not leave or enter this area in a vehicle or on foot. It is too late to leave, and the roads will not be safe.”

5 January 2018 (The Guardian) – Residents of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia are facing a scorcher of a weekend, and have been advised to drink plenty of water, take care in the surf and prepare properties for bushfire risks. An “extremely dangerous” bushfire was burning out of control in South Australia’s southeast […]

Tropical thunderstorms are set to grow stronger as the world warms

By Martin Singh 16 October 2017 (The Conversation) – Thunderstorms are set to become more intense throughout the tropics and subtropics this century as a result of climate change, according to new research.Thunderstorms are among nature’s most spectacular phenomena, producing lightning, heavy rainfall, and sometimes awe-inspiring cloud formations. But they also have a range of […]

Damage mounts after Australia wildfires and record heat – “To put it simply, conditions are off the old scale. It is without precedent in NSW.”

SYDNEY, 12 February 2017 (AFP) – Australia was counting the cost to property and livestock Monday after firefighters battled weekend blazes in some of the hottest conditions on record. At least 19 homes were destroyed in eastern Australia as emergency teams were sent out to assess the damage after a “catastrophic” weekend saw over 100 […]

Great Barrier Reef bleaching is just one symptom of ecosystem collapse across Australia

By Dale Nimmo, David Lindenmayer, John Woinarski, Ralph Mac Nally, Shaun Cunningham2 May 2016 (The Conversation) – Media reports around the world have brought the mass coral bleaching of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef into people’s offices and homes. With 93% of individual reefs showing bleaching, the devastation among researchers, celebrities and the public is palpable. […]

Was Tasmania’s summer of fires and floods a glimpse of its climate future?

    By Alistair Hobday, Eric Oliver, Jan McDonald, and Michael Grose19 April 2016 (The Conversation) – Drought, fires, floods, marine heatwaves – Tasmania has had a tough time this summer. These events damaged its natural environment, including world heritage forests and alpine areas, and affected homes, businesses and energy security. In past decades, climate-related […]

Call for urgent inquiry into world heritage forest fires in Tasmania – ‘If there was something simple that could be done, it would be done’

By Michael Slezak3 February 2016 (Guardian) – A national inquiry into the fires devastating world heritage forests in Tasmania is urgently needed, say conservationists and academics. The call comes as experts say fires like those could be the new normal. The Australian Conservation Foundation has called for the public inquiry as dozens of fires continue […]

Fires in Tasmania’s ancient forests are a warning for all of us

By David Bowman28 January 2016 (The Conversation) – More than 72,000 hectares of western Tasmania have been burned by a cluster of bushfires, most of them ignited by a spectacular dry lightning storm that crossed the island on January 13. The geographic scale of the fires can be seen on the Tasmanian Fire Service website. […]

Tasmania fires: First images of World Heritage Area devastation emerge, show signs of system collapse – ‘The scene is complete and utter devastation. There is kilometres of burnt ground, everything is dead.’

By Linda Hunt31 January 2016 (ABC) – The first images to emerge from within Tasmania’s fire-affected World Heritage Area (WHA) have illustrated the level of destruction caused by bushfire, as experts warn such incidents are signs of a changing climate. Many fires continue to burn around the state, ignited by lightning strikes. Some are in […]

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