Latest news with #temperatureanomaly
ABC News
08-07-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Eastern states shivered through a chilly June, is a warmer winter still on the cards?
It is now two weeks past the winter solstice, and despite a prediction of a warmer winter, many Australians have been feeling the cold. Large parts of the country have shivered through sub-zero temperatures and there have been big dumps of snow and powerful storms. So, have temperatures been significantly cold, or has the country become acclimatised to milder winter temperatures? A look at overnight minimum temperatures, which typically occur first thing in the morning, indicates days have started particularly chilly in many parts of Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology's temperature anomaly map shows most of the country experienced "cooler than average" minimum temperatures for June, apart from southern WA, western South Australia and northern Queensland. Daytime maximum temperatures, however, were closer to average for most of the country, apart from WA, which was warmer than normal. BOM climatologist Qian Zhou said the cold mornings had made it New South Wales's coldest June in nearly 20 years, by minimum temperature, while Queensland had its coldest June minimums in over a decade. "In June, several cold fronts passed us through the south and south-east with cold air behind it," Ms Zhou said. "And after the cold front passed, high-pressure systems settled in, creating the clear skies and the light winds overnight, allowing heat to escape. The cold minimum temperatures included -10 degrees Celsius in Goulburn, in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands, on June 21, which was colder than some sites in Antarctica. Canberra had three mornings in a row below -7C, a record cold run for the city. Tasmania also saw some particularly cold mornings late in the month, with Liawenee plunging to -9C, while Queensland's typically mild weather was freezing on several occasions. While the frigid mornings have warranted a scarf and beanie, they have been far from remarkable by historical standards — with the month coming in as the 48th coldest June on record. "Although the minimum temperature in June across Australia was below average, it was not that remarkably low compared to history," Ms Zhou said. Barely more than a handful of sites with more than 20 years of data broke daily cold records. Ms Zhou said record cold temperatures were becoming less common because of climate change. Since 1910, Australia's average temperature has warmed by more than 1.5C, with most of that change occurring since the 1950s. It means all seasons are getting warmer on average. The last "colder than average" winter, for example, was more than a decade ago. While cold extremes have become rarer, warm extremes have been getting more common, according to Ms Zhou. "And there has been an increase in number of extreme heat events. "A big part of this is due to global warming." The exception was for extreme cold nights in parts of south-east and south-west Australia, where the frequency of frost had been relatively unchanged since the 1980s. Ms Zhou said this was because those regions were also facing a rainfall decline during the cooler months, resulting in more time under clear skies and more "heat loss from the surface" — just like this year. The official winter outlook strongly favoured warm days and nights for June for almost the entire country. June was warmer than average for maximum temperatures. So, in that case, the outlook was accurate. But for the minimum temperatures, the outlook showed strong odds of warm minimum temperatures and for most places, that did not eventuate. Ms Zhou said it demonstrated how individual weather events, which were not able to be detected in the long-range outlook, could change the outcome of a month or season. "The long-range forecasts are unable to predict individual weather events more than one or two weeks in advance," she said. "Those weather systems are short timescales, but the long-range outlook is providing a forecast of the overall trend for the season. "In June, there were at least two major cold fronts with cold outbreaks, which brought abnormally cold air to much of the country and particularly to the east, which the long-range forecast was unlikely to be able to resolve at a long lead time." Technically, though, the outlook can not be wrong because it is not declaring what will happen, but just presenting the odds. Even though there was an 80 per cent chance of it being warmer than average, there was still a 20 per cent chance of it being colder than average. In this case, the outside chance won. Just because June was cold, it does not mean the rest of winter will continue that way. You only need to look to last year as an example. Frigid temperatures in June 2024 saw many calling it the "coldest winter in living memory" and criticising the BOM for getting their forecast wrong. But by the end of August, it was Australia's second-warmest winter on record. The Bureau of Meteorology has softened its forecast for the rest of this winter though. For the most part, it is still expected to be warmer than normal for July and August. But what was a fairly emphatic signal of warmth for the entire country is now looking more patchy, depending on where you live. Parts of South Australia are now expected to have cooler-than-average minimum temperatures in July, though maximum temperatures are still expected to be above average for most. And by August, large parts of inland Australia are showing even chances of above- or below-average maximum temperatures — meaning it could go either way. As for rainfall, July is forecast to be average to below average for most places, apart from coastal NSW, which is expected to be wetter than normal. This changes in August, with rainfall largely favoured to be above average for most of the NT, Queensland, NSW and parts of South Australia.
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Last month was the second-hottest May on RECORD - with average global temperatures hitting a balmy 15.79°C
It's not only Brits that sweltered through balmy conditions last month. Globally, May 2025 was the second-hottest May on record, scientists at the the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reveal. The global average air temperature for the month was 60.42°F (15.79°C), which is 0.95°F (0.53°C) above the 1991-2020 average for May. The figure is just below the May record-holder, May 2024, which had a global average air temperature of 60.6°F (15.91°C). Worryingly, experts point to human-cased greenhouse gas emissions as the cause for this latest temperature 'anomaly'. It comes after the second-warmest April on record, the second-warmest March on record, the third-warmest February on record, and the warmest January on record. Meanwhile, summer 2024 was the hottest summer on record globally, while last year was the hottest year on record. Going forward, 2025 could quite easily break these climate records. Climate data like this is collected using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world. Readings refer to the average air temperature for the whole planet over the whole month – so lower than a single typically 'hot' temperature reading. Experts at CS3 – which is based in Bonn in Germany – reveal that last month was 2.52°F (1.40°C) above the May average for 1850-1900. This 50-year period is the designated 'pre-industrial' reference period to which modern temperatures are compared. The historical era was prior to widespread industrialization when humans started polluting the atmosphere and triggering global warming with the burning of fossil fuels. According to the experts, of the last 22 months before May 2025, all but one (July 2024) had a global average temperature of more than 2.7°F/1.5°C above the pre-industrial level. At 2.52°F/1.4°C above the pre-industrial average, May 2025 is also an exception to this pattern. But experts think it won't be long before 1.5°C is breached again. 'May 2025 breaks an unprecedentedly long sequence of months over 1.5°C above [the] pre-industrial [average],' said Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S. 'Whilst this may offer a brief respite for the planet, we do expect the 1.5°C threshold to be exceeded again in the near future due to the continued warming of the climate system.' Looking at Europe specifically, the average temperature over European land for May 2025 was 55.36°F (12.98°C) – 0.29°C below the 1991-2020 average for May. Generally, there were below-average temperatures in eastern Europe (such as in eastern Italy and Finland) and above-average temperatures in western Europe, including the UK which experienced weeks of balmy weather. Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average over western Antarctica, Middle East and western Asia, northeastern Russia, and northern Canada. But temperatures were particularly below average over India, Alaska, southern and northeast Africa, northern parts of Australia and eastern Antarctica. Meanwhile, conditions were wetter than average across most of southern Europe, Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and in parts of western Russia. Conversely, drier than average conditions were recorded in northern and central Europe as well as southern regions of Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey. The three months from March to May 2025 marked the second-warmest spring on record globally, according to CS3. These maps of Europe highlight anomalies for rain (left), surface soil moisture (centre) and river flow (right) between March-May 2025 The Met Office recently revealed that Britain recorded its warmest and sunniest spring on record, going back to 1884. But globally-speaking, the three months from March to May marked the second-warmest spring on record, CS3 also reported. The global average temperature for spring 2025 was 0.59°C above the 1991-2020 average, behind only spring 2024. Globally, March to May 2025 was drier than average over western North America and extra-tropical South America, the Horn of Africa, parts of central Asia, China, and south of Australia, CS3 added. Wetter-than-average conditions were experienced over eastern North America, Alaska, across Russia, southern Africa, and northern Australia. CS3's main metric for measuring warmth is the temperature of the air, but it also keeps track of temperatures of the world's oceans. Namely it looks at sea surface temperature (SST) – how hot the water is at or close to the ocean's surface, which can damage delicate marine ecosystems. C3S said the global average sea surface temperature (SST) was 69.42°F (20.79°C) last month – 0.14°C below the May 2024 record. Lastly, May 2025 saw Arctic sea ice 2 per cent below average, the ninth-lowest monthly extent for May in the 47-year satellite record. Overall, the various indicators from CS3 once again suggest there are long-term changes happening to the global climate. Carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect: A primer The greenhouse effect is the reason our planet is getting too hot to live on. CO2 released by human activity is accumulating as an 'insulating blanket' around the Earth, trapping more of the sun's heat in our atmosphere. CO2 - and other greenhouse gases - are emitted by actions such as burning fossil fuels like coal for energy, burning forests to make way for livestock and Fertilisers containing nitrogen produce nitrous oxide emissions - another greenhouse gas. Meanwhile, fluorinated gases are emitted from equipment and products that use these gases. Such emissions have a very strong warming effect, up to 23,000 times greater than CO2.
