The influence of a changing climate on high-impact severe weather in Australia
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2-2020
Conference Title
27th AMOS Annual Meeting and International Conference on Indian Ocean Meteorology and Oceanography
Place of Publication
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS), Fremantle
Keywords
climate, severe weather, South West Land Division, Western Australia
Disciplines
Agricultural Education | Climate
Abstract
The South West Land Division (SWLD) experienced a climate shift in the mid- 1970s, with a 20% overall decline in May to June rainfall. Since this time, along with a continuing rainfall decline, with a further climate shift in 2000, there has also been an increase in the number of extreme temperature events. We found that the number of frost occurrences (days below 2 ̊C) in August to October in the SWLD has declined and that the number of heat events (days over 30 ̊C) has increased with the changing climate. However, since 2000 frost and heat are now more widespread in the SWLD. The timing of these events corresponds to flowering and grain fill of cereals and oil-seeds and therefore is a significant impact on Western Australia’s $4.5 billion agricultural economy.
Recommended Citation
Guthrie, M M,
Evans, F H,
Hepworth, A,
Foster, I,
and
Biddulph, B.
(2020), The influence of a changing climate on high-impact severe weather in Australia, 27th AMOS Annual Meeting and International Conference on Indian Ocean Meteorology and Oceanography, Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS), Fremantle, pp.203-203.
https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/conf_papers/279
