By Michael PerryTue Jan 5, 2010 9:24am EST SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia experienced its hottest decade on record from 2000 to 2009 due to global warming, the nation’s bureau of meteorology said on Tuesday, as annual summer bushfires again burn drought lands and destroy homes. The average temperature in Australia over the past 10 years […]
By Rebecca Lindsey A spring heat wave scorched southeastern Australia in mid-November 2009, pushing the fire danger to the “catastrophic” category in parts of South Australia and New South Wales and to “extreme” in other surrounding areas. Many cities, including Melbourne and Adelaide experienced record-breaking temperatures that continued for many days. This pair of images […]
SOUTHERN Australia stands to have the worst drought conditions since the 1930s as maximum summer temperatures soar, Victoria’s rural fire authority says. In a weather presentation to federal Victorian MPs at Parliament House in Canberra, Country Fire Authority chief fire officer Russell Rees also said there was a 55 per cent chance of summer temperatures […]
Drenching spring rain has failed to to ease crisis, with dams at their second lowest level ever going into summer. For the first time in 12 years Melbourne has received above average rainfall in spring but dams are still only 38 per cent full. The only time they have been lower was last year when […]
By COSIMA MARRINERDecember 3, 2009 JENNIFER TUNLEY got a shock when news broke that her Darling Downs town of Dalby had just eight hours’ supply of water left. “We hadn’t heard how drastic our water situation was until now,” Mrs Tunley said. “There was a bit of panic.” Dalby council’s dire warning that Queensland’s rich […]
By BRIAN ROBINSNovember 28, 2009 LOW water levels will force the shutdown of the large Wallerawang power station near Lithgow over Christmas, as efforts are made to to take pressure off local water supplies. The move is the clearest impact yet of the dry weather conditions on the state’s electricity industry. A continuing lack of […]
ALICE SPRINGS, Australia – Australian authorities plan to corral about 6,000 wild camels with helicopters and gun them down after they overran a small Outback town in search of water, trampling fences, smashing tanks and contaminating supplies. The Northern Territory government announced its plan Wednesday for Docker River, a town of 350 residents where thirsty […]
November 24, 2009 – 2:13PM (AAP) – As heatwave conditions hit last week, record temperatures were recorded across much of southeastern Australia, but there was no hotter place than Marree. The temperature in the small town, at the junction of the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks, on the edge of the desert 685km north of Adelaide, […]
By MARIAN WILKINSON ENVIRONMENT EDITORNovember 23, 2009 SYDNEY sweltered in near record-breaking heat yesterday as the temperature climbed above 40 degrees across the city just after 3pm. At the airport the mercury hit 42.5, pipping Penrith’s high of 42.1. And the metropolitan heat was almost as fierce as the 43 recorded in the state’s north-west […]
By ELLIE HARVEY AND BELLINDA KONTOMINASNovember 23, 2009 FIRES burned aggressively across NSW yesterday, scorching about 12,000 hectares of the state but claiming just one property. About 130 fires were fanned by sweltering heat and gusty conditions that led to emergency warnings for eight towns. This level of warnings advises residents to enact their bushfire […]
