By Ilya Gridneff and Kristen Amiet15 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – The worst bushfires in NSW for more than a decade have ripped through the state’s north-west, taking 33 homes and destroying 40,000 hectares [154 square miles] of land. More than 80 Rural Fire Service volunteers supported by 18 aircraft spent most of Monday […]
10 January 2013 (The Kansas City Star) – The overwhelming number of scientists who believe in climate change scored another “victory” in 2012. Unfortunately, because of timid political leadership in the United States and around the world, the war against global warming is still being lost. Scientists have long warned that man-made greenhouse gases are […]
By Luke Harding 9 January 2013 (guardian.co.uk) – The tornadoes of fire came from two directions. They quickly engulfed the small Tasmanian fishing town of Dunally, and swept towards the home where Tim and Tammy Holmes were babysitting their five grandchildren. There was no escape. No way out. And so the family did the only […]
By Susan Osborne and Jake Crouch8 January 2013 (ClimateWatch Magazine) – According to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, the average temperature for the contiguous United States for 2012 was 55.3° Fahrenheit, which was 3.2° Fahrenheit above the twentieth-century average and 1.0° Fahrenheit above the previous record from 1998. The year consisted […]
By Peter Hannam, Carbon economy editor9 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Australia’s “dome of heat” has become so intense that the temperatures are rising off the charts – literally. The Bureau of Meteorology’s interactive weather forecasting chart has added new colours – deep purple and pink – to extend its previous temperature range that […]
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer8 January 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) – America set an off-the-charts heat record in 2012. A brutal combination of a widespread drought and a mostly absent winter pushed the average annual U.S. temperature last year up to 55.32 degrees Fahrenheit, the government announced Tuesday. That’s a full degree warmer than the […]
By Peter Hannam, Carbon economy editor8 January 2013 Australia’s “exceptional” heatwave has produced record-breaking temperatures, with at least six of the first seven days of 2013 among the top 20 hottest days in the past century. The extreme January heat has prompted the Bureau of Meteorology to issue a special climate statement, with further updates […]
6 January 2012 (BBC) – Australian police are searching fire-ravaged towns in southern Tasmania looking for 100 unaccounted people. Tasmania’s police commissioner said he feared lives may have been lost in the wildfires which swept through parts of the island in recent days. Almost 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, many stranded in […]
By Stephanie Gardiner7 January 2013 THE heatwave Sydney has managed to avoid is due to hit on Tuesday, as firefighters prepare for the most dangerous bushfire conditions in years in the city and around the state. […] Some of the hottest areas in the state at the weekend were in the far west and the […]
By Nick Ralston and Saffron Howden6 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – NSW is facing its most dangerous bushfire threat in 12 years as the state swelters through a record-breaking heatwave and fire officials express concern about the public’s preparedness. Across the country, fire crews were battling more than 100 bushfires on Saturday. The NSW […]
