Climate change in Australia

No wonder Tony Abbott hates the ABC!

2013 was hottest year on record in Australia, Bureau of Meteorology says

Australia has just sweltered through its hottest year on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology

ABC,

3 January, 2014


Average temperatures were 1.20 degrees Celsius above the long-term average of 21.8C, breaking the previous record set in 2005 by 0.17C, the bureau said in its Annual Climate Statement.

All states and territories recorded above average temperatures in 2013, with Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia all breaking annual average temperature records.

And every month of 2013 had national average temperatures at least 0.5C above normal, according to the statement.

See our detailed graphical breakdown of the year's temperature and rainfall data.

The country recorded its hottest day on January 7 - a month which also saw the hottest week and hottest month since records began in 1910.

A new record was set for the number of consecutive days the national average temperature exceeded 39C – seven days between January 2 and 8, 2013, almost doubling the previous record of four consecutive days in 1973.

The highest temperature recorded during 2013 was 49.6C at Moomba in South Australia on January 12, which was the highest temperature in Australia since 1998.

Further, with mean temperatures across Australia generally well above average since September 2012, long periods of warmer-than-average days have been common, with a distinct lack of cold weather, the statement says.

The release of 2013 weather data prompted heated debate among our audience. Read what some people had to say here.

Nights have also been warmer than average, but less so than days.

The country has experienced just one cooler-than-average year in the last decade - 2011.

Australian temperatures have warmed approximately 1C since 1950, consistent with global climate trends.

Globally, each of the past 13 years since 2001 have ranked among the 14 warmest on record.

The bureau's Neil Plummer told News 24 that as a predictor of climate in Australia, the statistics "speak for themselves", and that a "consistent body of evidence" gathered globally pointed to a "warming trend".

"All Australian records go back to 1910. The trend over that period is a little short of a degree warming over that period, where most of the warming has occurred since around about 1950, and that's consistent with the global pattern," he said.

"It's not just us at the bureau doing the number crunching, it is all the bureaus around the world, and it is that body of evidence that we're all seeing a warming over Australia and a warming world."