The Dry Continent braces for catastrophic conditions

This is what climate change (or its early stages) means

Australia Braces For 'Catastrophic Conditions' As Bushfire Season Begins

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Reuters/Country Fire Authority
A helicopter dumps water on a bushfire burning in the Grampians bushland in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, about 300 km (186 miles) west of Melbourne, January 17, 2014. 

IB Times,

22 October, 2014

The Climate Council predicts the economic cost of fires will be thrice as much by mid-century as the current number of firefighters in the country will need to double to control the bushfires. The commission has repeatedly urged the Australian government to cut carbon emissions "rapidly and deeply" to lower the risk of hotter and drier conditions.

2013 was the hottest year on record in Australia, The Guardian reports. The council's report cited the findings as proof of the conditions leading up to the possibility of "very high fire danger weather" in Sydney. The last summer was Sydney's driest in almost 30 years. Before the official start of the bushfire season in October, more than 50 city councils have announced the beginning of fire danger.

Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said the recent years have prompted the introduction of a new fire warning category. She said the country saw the new fire warning of "catastrophic conditions" in Victoria's "Black Saturday" bushfires in 2009. The same warning was spread in South Australia, Tasmania and NSW.

McKenzie explained that longer fire seasons meant there might be instances when crucial measures are not implemented. Bushfire risk is escalated by a "long-term drying trend" caused by climate change resulting to a decreasing rainfall in the southern part of the country since the middle of the 1990s. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the next three months in Australia is expected to be drier than normal with less soil moisture. There is a high risk of logs and forest debris to burn up easily because of dry conditions.

The Climate Council estimates the total economic cost of expected bushfires in NSW will be at $37 million in 2014. The council operates on crowdsource funding since the Abbott government withdrew its support in 2013. 

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