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Originally Posted by Scott Bird  As for 'careful what you wish for', it's forecast for 38C (100F) here tomorrow, and it isn't even summer yet. There's also talk of snow arriving here in the next few weeks, and it hasn't snowed here for about 170 years. Extremely unusual weather. |
We (Melbourne) had a 36C (97F) degree day in September - start of Spring. Last week we had a 13C (55F) degree day and yesterday it was 36C (97F). Melbourne is not known for its consistent weather, but this is a bit ridiculous.
Last year I was living in Margaret River, WA, and they had the coldest summer in living memory. I went on an indigenous tour in Autumn and the Aboriginal guide was showing a heap of spring time plants that were still out.
Last year on the other side of the country Melbourne had one of the hottest summers on record.
What I've read suggests that some the change is due to natural cycles in the weather (and we've just come out of an unusually consistent period), but I don't think it can be denied the effect humans are also having.
I take a 2.5 (250km) hour train trip to my parents place through country side almost devoid of trees that 200 years ago would have been 250km of forest. Every morning I ingest lung fulls of exhaust as I ride to work. Some days I can look out the windows and the distant buildings are veiled in smog (not often luckily). I've lived in a country where I could count the number of days you could see the horizon through smoke on one hand.
In Australia, with such a low population density, a lot of the pollution is hidden from us - big pollution industry is located in remote places.
I find it astonishing to hear that some people can't see that our actions would / could effect the planet.