It has been a record-breaking summer for many parts of Australia, but especially for the state of Victoria - as chronicled by Deejay Rebel on Facebook.
It has been been the seond-hottest February in New Zealand as a whole and - I have not imagined it - the hottest recorded February for the Wellington region. I have known nothing like it in the 30 years I have lived here.
Victoria’s
north west set to break heatwave records for March
7
March, 2016
VICTORIA
will continue to swelter through an extended summer this week with
extreme heatwave records set to be broken in the state’s northwest.
A
scorching 42.1C was recorded at Mildura Airport yesterday and Bendigo
Airport reached 38.8C, making it the hottest ever March day for both
places.
Bureau
of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said the trend of high
temperatures over consecutive days would continue, with Victoria’s
north and west expected to hover around 40C through to the weekend.
“We’ve
had a couple records broken already for north western Victoria but we
can expect to see more this week,” Mr Stewart said.
He
added although humidity and thunderstorms would begin to affect most
of Victoria by the end of the week, temperatures would remain above
40C in the state’s north today and tomorrow before dropping down
into the high 30s.
Melbourne
won’t be as severely stricken by the hot spell due to mild
southerly winds, but temperatures will remain in the low 30s into the
weekend
But
despite Melburnians feeling a little more hot and bothered than
expected for this time of year, Mr Stewart said the unseasonal heat
was nothing compared to what we sweated through in 2013.
“In
March 2013 [metropolitan] Melbourne had a run of nine days at about
30 degrees and five of those days were above 35,” he said.
Melbourne will reach a top of 35C tomorrow and 32C on Wednesday.
Second hottest February on record sparks fresh concerns over climate change
MAARTEN
HOLL/ FAIRFAX NZ
Crowds
enjoying the hot weather at Scorching Bay in Wellington in February.
2
March, 2016
A
scorching end to the summer has lead to New Zealand's second
warmest February on record, preliminary data from Niwa shows.
The
country's mean temperature for the month was 19.6 degrees Celsius,
second only to 1998, said Niwa forecaster Chris Brandolino.
For
Wellington it was the warmest February on record, also with a
mean temperature of 19.6C, which is 2.4C above average for
the capital.
But
while the weather was great for those enjoying our pools and beaches,
it was concerning to climate scientists.
"If
global warming and climate change just meant nicer summer days around
Oriental Bay - wouldn't that be nice,"
said Professor James Renwick of Victoria University.
Warmer
months meant two things, sea levels would rise and rainfall patterns
would change, he said.
"If
we dry up the planet the frozen things start to melt... and sea
levels are definitely going to go up this century."
While
temperature rises in cooler areas of the North Island, such as
Wellington, Masterton and Paraparaumu might appear "quite
pleasant" - the consequences would cost us.
"Water
scarcity will become more and more of a problem.
"Those
sorts of things that have an effect on agriculture and drinking water
are a big concern."
Renwick knew
February was tracking to be hottest, but said he
was surprised at how large the anomaly was.
"One
degree up or down is quite a big deal, but 2.4C is really large."
The
higher-than-average temperatures were expected to continue across New
Zealand, Brandolino said.
Niwa's
seasonal climate outlook for autumn states temperatures are 55 per
cent likely to be above average in all regions of the North
Island.
Rainfall,
soil moisture and river flows are all predicted to be near
average or below average across the island, including in Wellington,
Wairarapa, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay.
It
was important to remember higher-than-average temperatures
were relative to each season, Brandolino said.
Historically
the mean autumn temperature for Wellington is 13.7C, while
the average for summer is 15.7C.
Temperatures are
considered above average if they are half a degree higher than
normal.
Wellington's
record-breaking February temperature was taken at Kelburn, where
records have been kept since 1927.
The
New Zealand-wide temperature is calculated based on Niwa's
seven station series, which has tracked temperatures in
Wellington, Nelson, Dunedin, Auckland, Masterton, Hokitika and
Lincoln since 1908.
The
series shows the country's average annual temperature has
increased by about 1C over the past 100 years.
Wellington's long hot summer: February the warmest month on record
DAVID
WHITE/ FAIRFAX NZ
A
man sunbathes on top of a bus shelter in Seatoun, Wellington, while
waiting for his bus.
29
February, 2016
Wellington
looks set to clock up its hottest month since records began in 1927.
On
the last day of February, with just hours left to be
counted, Wellington's mean temperature for the month was at 19.6
degrees Celsius, just ahead of the 19.3C recorded in 1998.
"Today's
weather still has to pass through the Niwa data gates, but even
if today was a little bit on the cooler side it probably won't be
enough to change the ranking," National Institute of Water and
Atmospheric Research forecaster Chris Brandolino said.
KEVIN
STENT/ FAIRFAX NZ
Karaka
Bay is covered in a large amount of small blob-like creatures,
believed to be salp.
"And
here's the juicy bit: that would also be the warmest temperature for
any month, going back to when records started in Kelburn in 1927."
Brandolino said
the record-breaking month came down to more sunshine
hours, high-pressure systems, and northeasterly winds.
But
while February was a record-breaker, the summer in total has not
set any highs, though it has been hotter and drier than usual.
"The
expectation is that as we go into the future, over the coming
years and especially decades, we will find more hot days per
year, days over 25C and a shift in extreme rainfall patterns,"
Brandolino said.
Not
only that, but there is now evidence Wellington has become less windy
over the past 40 years.
Since
1975, the average number of days in Wellington on which it has
been blowing a gale has trended down, a report
published by Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry for the
Environment has found.
"There
is statistical evidence that the number of days where wind
exceeds gale force [approximately 60kmh] is decreasing in
Wellington over the period from 1975 to 2014," SNZ analyst Dan
Elder said.
The
average number of days a year on which the wind blows harder than
gale force in Wellington is 201, but the trend has been downward from
253 in 1975 to 176 in 2013.
"Time
will tell if decreases in the number of damaging wind events are part
of a cycle, or whether climate change will increase the intensity and
frequency of damaging wind," the report said.
The
capital remains the windy city, however, with Auckland
experiencing only 55 gale-force days a year.
THE
SEA HAS EYES
Wellingtonians
out swimming in the hot weather have noticed a gelatinous growth
in the local waters.
Sue
Barnett has been swimming at Karaka Bay for 32 years, and said she
had never seen anything like it.
"They
are horrible little jelly-like creatures about
half the size of a fingernail ... when you stand on them
you can feel them squelching under you," she said.
Some
have called them jellyfish, others fear sea lice, but Niwa
emeritus scientist Dennis Gordon said they were in fact salp: a
blobby colony of animals distantly related to fish.
"It
looks like sago, but it's non-stingy ... completely
harmless," he said.
The
globular creatures had been in force around Miramar and
Eastbourne, and also in Makara, Oriental Bay and Karaka Bay.
"It's quite
transparent and it feeds on plant plankton. They bloom and get
in extraordinary numbers and wash up on beaches."
Larger
ones did tend to happen when the seas were warmer, but Gordon said
there had been no sign of the really huge ones that came through
during a La Nina.
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