# Australian Wildfires plus Temperatures are No Joke!

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2019/12/australian-wildfires-plus-temperatures-are-no-joke/
- Published: 2019-12-30T22:11:31-05:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

So Australian residents are really bracing through severe fires across NSW, Victoria
and Tasmania**.**

As the [Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/20/south-australia-bushfire-warning-temperatures-above-40c-forecast-several-states)
reports, all of Australia’s mainland states, and the Northern Territory, had areas
that reached more than 40C on Wednesday. That’s as residents were warned it was 
too late to leave as two serious [bushfires](https://greenlivingguy.com/2019/08/wildfire-smoke-swirls-over-russia/)
hit areas of [South Australia](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/south-australia).

![Source : NASA ](https://i0.wp.com/greenlivingguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/
img_2405.jpg?resize=640%2C853&quality=52&ssl=1)

Source: NASA

Meanwhile we have a code red bushfire warning over [Australia](https://greenlivingguy.com/2019/12/what-global-temperature-increases-mean-for-our-climate/).
Therefore signifying the worst possible conditions. It was issued for parts of [Victoria](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/victoria).

The highest temperatures recorded were 43.4C at Smithville in [New South Wales](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/new-south-wales)
and 42C at Walpepup in Victoria. Ballera in Queensland reached 43.7C (110.66F).

In addition, Warburton in WA got 43.8C. As well as Nullarbor in South Australia 
recorded 46.6C (115.88F). Finally in Lajamanu in the Northern Territory had hit 
42.7C (108.86F)!

The Bureau of Meteorology said there had been multiple times when all mainland states
had recorded temperatures of at least 40C. The record for the earliest date for 
such a record was 12 October 2004.

A pre-summer heatwave has Victoria ready for code red bushfire conditions in the
north as well as a state-wide total fire ban.

#### So what is Australia’s climate change commitment?

**[The nation’s target under the Paris Agreement](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35073297)**
won’t be made with Australia as is. That’s because the [Paris Climate Agreement](https://unfccc.int/process/conferences/pastconferences/paris-climate-change-conference-november-2015/paris-agreement )
deal to tackle rising global temperatures is a 26-28% reduction in emissions by 
2030. Some have criticized that as inadequate for a [G20](https://greenlivingguy.com/2016/06/g20-energy-ministers-recognise-progress-on-renewables-set-stage-for-more-action/)
country.

Last year, the UN reported that Australia is also the world’s largest coal exporter.
So therefore they are not on track to meet its commitments.

In addition, Mr Morrison told the UN last year that Australia was doing its bit 
to address climate change. As well as “balancing our global responsibilities with
sensible and practical policies to secure our environmental and our economic future”.

#### So are these bushfires due to climate change?

As the [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50341210) discusses: “We find
it very difficult in general to attribute climate change impacts to a specific event.
Especially and particularly while the event is running. Not the things I’d say but
came from Dr Richard Thornton. He is chief executive of the Bushfires & Natural 
Hazards Co-operative Research Centre.

So now [Farmers are Australia’s ‘unlikely’ climate activists.](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47890319)
All because they are living with the strain of a devastating drought.

[Black Saturday 2009: The day Australia saw ‘the gates of hell’](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47038202)

Prof Glenda Wardle, an ecologist from the University of Sydney, agreed: “It’s not
every weather event that is the direct result of [climate change](https://greenlivingguy.com/2017/02/just-in-case-folks-heres-epa-climate-change-page/).
But when you see trends… it becomes undeniably linked to [global climate change.”](https://greenlivingguy.com/2005/05/global-warming-change-a-small-few-non-believers-say-no/)

⌊Bushfire. A massive blaze is seen over residential houses and parked cars in Forster
on 7 November 2019⌉⌊Bushfire. A massive blaze is seen over residential houses and
parked cars in Forster on 7 November 2019⌉Image copyright JACKI POCOCK Massive bushfires
in November have destroyed hundreds of homes

She said there was a “collective shift” in the timing. As well as the intensity 
of weather events.

#### Will Australia’s bushfires get worse?

“Everything we normally see as variability between a good fire season and a bad 
season is sitting on top of that extra 1C – and that means that the severe events
will occur more frequently.”

![Another bushfire and all over temps rising with climate change](https://i0.wp.
com/ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/720x405/p07n4fd2.jpg?resize=720%2C405&quality=52&
ssl=1)

Why Australia bushfires are now “hotter and more intense as [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-45123925)
adds, But Prof Wardle said the government was “passing the buck” on climate change
and not doing enough to help stem the rise in global temperatures.

“It hasn’t just been fires, there’s been flood, there’s the drought,” she said. “
Every time [the government] has had the chance to take on the big issue of climate
change and do something, they choose not to and blame other things like land management.”

Image copyright AFP

Dr Ahmed said the leaders’ responses this week were a “very unfortunate” reaction
to peer-reviewed warnings by leading scientists.

Was Australia warned about the risk?**[State of the Climate 2018 report](http://www.bom.gov.au/state-of-the-climate/)**
said climate change had led to an increase in extreme heat events and increased 
the severity of other natural disasters, such as drought.

⌊Australian wildfires. Fire. A sign warning people to be prepared for catastrophic
fire conditions in Taree, NSW⌉⌊Australian wildfires. Fire. A sign warning people
to be prepared for catastrophic fire conditions in Taree, NSW⌉
 In April, **[23 former fire chiefs and emergency leaders issued a letter](https://twitter.com/zdaniel/status/1193297938476347398)**,
warning the government about “increasingly catastrophic extreme weather events”.
It requested a meeting which was declined by the government.

Now [The Daily Mail](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7842717/Humanitarian-crisis-Australia-bushfires-limit-supplies-food-water-fuel-towns.html)
reporting [Australia](https://greenlivingguy.com/2019/05/australian-researchers-are-developing-short-term-weather-forecasts-for-solar-farms-to-help-them-precisely-predict-output-as-little-as-five-minutes-in-advance/)
is teetering on the edge of a humanitarian crisis as remote communities remain cut
off from medical help, water sources are compromised and food and fuel supplies 
run low.

A Navy ship that delivered emergency supplies to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake
has left Sydney and is expected to reach the waters off the fire-stricken town of
Mallacoota, Victoria, on Thursday.

Sources: The Guardian, BBC, [The Daily Mail](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7842717/Humanitarian-crisis-Australia-bushfires-limit-supplies-food-water-fuel-towns.html)