.. bold within paragraphs, and conversions, mine .. made funner with a meal munch at the same time ..
Location
This report describes the historical weather record at the Sydney Airport (Sydney, Australia) during 2013. This station has records back to January 1948.
Sydney has a warm humid temperate climate with hot summers and no dry season. The area within 40 km of this station is covered by oceans and seas (49%), grasslands (26%), built-up areas (20%), and forests (5%)
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Temperature
The hottest day of 2013 was January 18, with a high temperature of 46°C [114.8F]. For reference, on that day the average high temperature is 26°C [78.8F] and the high temperature exceeds 31°C [ F] only one day in ten. The hottest month of 2013 was January with an average daily high temperature of 28°C [82.4F].
Relative to the average, the hottest day was January 18. The high temperature that day was 46°C, compared to the average of 26°C, a difference of 20°C. In relative terms the warmest month was September, with an average high temperature of 24°C [75.2F], compared to an typical value of 21°C [69.8F].
The longest warm spell was from July 11 to July 23, constituting 13 consecutive days with warmer than average high temperatures. The month of July had the largest fraction of warmer than average days with 84% days with higher than average high temperatures.
Temperature
The daily low (blue) and high (red) temperature during 2013 with the area between them shaded gray and superimposed over the corresponding averages (thick lines), and with percentile bands (inner band from 25th to 75th percentile, outer band from 10th to 90th percentile). The bar at the top of the graph is red where both the daily high and low are above average, blue where they are both below average, and white otherwise.
The coldest day of 2013 was July 7, with a low temperature of 6°C [42.8F]. For reference, on that day the average low temperature is 9°C [48.2F] and the low temperature drops below 6°C only one day in ten. The coldest month of 2013 was July with an average daily low temperature of 10°C [50F].
Relative to the average, the coldest day was February 2. The low temperature that day was 15°C [59F], compared to the average of 20°C [68F], a difference of 5°C [41F]. In relative terms the coldest month was May, with an average low temperature of 12°C, [ F] compared to an typical value of 12°C [53.6F].
The longest cold spell was from May 3 to May 11, constituting 9 consecutive days with cooler than average low temperatures. The month of May had the largest fraction of cooler than average days with 61% days with lower than average low temperatures.
Australia has just sweltered through its hottest year on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Average temperatures were 1.20 [34.16F] degrees Celsius above the long-term average of 21.8C [71.24F], breaking the previous record set in 2005 by 0.17C [32.306F], the bureau said in its Annual Climate Statement.
All states and territories recorded above average temperatures in 2013, with Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia all breaking annual average temperature records.
And every month of 2013 had national average temperatures at least 0.5C above normal, according to the statement.
The country recorded its hottest day on January 7 - a month which also saw the hottest week and hottest month since records began in 1910.
A new record was set for the number of consecutive days the national average temperature exceeded 39C – seven days between January 2 and 8, 2013, almost doubling the previous record of four consecutive days in 1973.
The highest temperature recorded during 2013 was 49.6C at Moomba in South Australia on January 12, which was the highest temperature in Australia since 1998.
Further, with mean temperatures across Australia generally well above average since September 2012, long periods of warmer-than-average days have been common, with a distinct lack of cold weather, the statement says.
Australian temperatures have warmed approximately 1C since 1950, consistent with global climate trends.
Globally, each of the past 13 years since 2001 have ranked among the 14 warmest on record.
The bureau's Neil Plummer told News 24 that as a predictor of climate in Australia, the statistics "speak for themselves", and that a "consistent body of evidence" gathered globally pointed to a "warming trend".
"All Australian records go back to 1910. The trend over that period is a little short of a degree warming over that period, where most of the warming has occurred since around about 1950, and that's consistent with the global pattern," he said.
"It's not just us at the bureau doing the number crunching, it is all the bureaus around the world, and it is that body of evidence that we're all seeing a warming over Australia and a warming world."
According to the weather bureau's statement, significant climate events of 2013 included:
* The January heatwave, which saw a number of severe bushfires in south eastern Tasmania and in Victoria, where bushfires were particularly widespread.
* An early start to the fire season saw major bushfires in the Blue Mountains during October, the most destructive in the region since 1968.
*i Ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, which caused heavy rain and flooding along the east coast in late January, with many coastal areas from Sydney to Cape York receiving more than 200mm of rainfall in 24 hours, and Upper Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland receiving 1496mm in eight days.
* Tropical cyclone Rusty was the most intense tropical cyclone to make landfall in 2013, causing flooding in the Pilbara and Western Kimberley in late February.
* Tropical cyclone Alessia crossed the coast near Darwin in late November, the earliest tropical cyclone to make landfall in the Northern Territory in 40 years.
The statement concurred with a report released by the United Nations' climate panel in September, saying that recent warming trends had been "dominated by the influence of increasing greenhouse gases and the enhanced greenhouse effect".
According to the landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, scientists are 95 per cent sure that humans are responsible for global warming.
The report, the result of almost seven years' work by more than 600 scientists and researchers, says the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 40 per cent since the pre-industrial era.
It presents a number of different scenarios of how climate change may unfold over the next century, but says the majority of climate models point to a mean temperature rise of around 2C.
University of New South Wales climate expert Dr Sarah Perkins says last year shows the effects of global warming are taking hold.
"It's here and now. We're actually starting to feel the effects, and even though the global temperature hasn't risen more than a degree at the moment, that's already had impacts on extreme temperatures and that's consistent with what we've been seeing for quite a while," she said.
Dr Perkins says record temperatures without the climatic influence of an El Nino makes 2013 especially significant.
"Usually when we have warmer than average temperatures and lower than average rainfall, that's associated with an El Nino summer," she said.
----- "Australia has always been a country of extremes; we're no strangers to tropical cyclones or heatwaves or anything of the like, but it's the time they're occurring, particularly the start of the bushfire season this year. It was the earliest on record. That's what we're worried about."
Climate expert Dr Sarah Perkins -----
"When we have La Nina summers, we have higher than average rainfall and lower than average temperatures.
"However, the past two summers have been neutral years, so they should have be effectively average rainfall and average temperature.
"So that's what we're a little bit worried about - that we're seeing all these records breaking when we're not really in a pattern of climate that influences those sorts of extremes.
"Australia has always been a country of extremes; we're no strangers to tropical cyclones or heatwaves or anything of the like, but it's the time they're occurring, particularly the start of the bushfire season this year. It was the earliest on record. That's what we're worried about."
Earth's oceans also heating up
According to the bureau, the planet's oceans are also getting warmer, with sea surface temperatures over the past 10 years the warmest on record.
Mr Plummer said the waters around Australia were no exception.
"In fact the waters to the south of Australia were the warmest on record, too, so it's that consistent body of evidence, particularly since the 1950s, where we've seen quite a strong warming," he said.
In 2013, sea surface temperatures around Australia were "unusually warm throughout the year", according to the bureau statement, with the temperatures for January and February among the highest on record.
Surface temperatures off the western and southern coast of Australia from summer 2012–13 until May were "consistently very much above average," the bureau says.
As of the end of November, global temperatures were 0.49C above average, the authors said, adding that other parts of the world to experience their warmest year on record in 2013 included the tropical North Pacific region around and east of the Philippines, along with parts of central Asia.
Exceptionally warm sea temperatures in the western North Pacific had "contributed to a very active tropical cyclone season in the region, especially in October and November", they wrote.
"In those months there were seven super typhoons (the equivalent of a category 4 or 5 tropical cyclone in Australia) in as many weeks," they wrote, adding that the most significant of these was Typhoon Haiyan, which they described as one of the most intense tropical cyclones ever to make landfall.
Heat defines first days of 2014 as Australia swelters
Extreme conditions have persisted into the first days of 2014, with soaring temperatures in areas extending from Queensland's interior to Central Australia, northern South Australia and north-western New South Wales.
On Thursday, temperature records tumbled in central, western and north-west Queensland, with the mercury topping 40C in a number of areas.
Northerly winds will push the heat towards the state's south-east over the next few days. Brisbane is expected to reach a high of close to 40C on Saturday.
South Australia's far north also sweltered through near-record temperatures on Thursday, as ex-tropical cyclone Christine tracked across the state, bringing high winds.
John Nairn from the weather bureau says several outback towns had temperatures well into the 40s.
"Our temperatures have been near record, the highest temperature we had was at Moomba at 49.3 degrees but a lot of centres up there are pushing up around that 50 mark," he said.
Anyone who has suffered from clap will know the burning and the pain it causes. Wow! The burn to fix it! The pain of the $100. Yeah, yesterday a thunderclap accompanied power surge ran through the Surge Guard like Palin through reason and killed my modem. Leading to a 7.2km walk in the rain. You all knew from the first what clap i was talking about, eh. LOL, that fun aside sadly it was fatal for one ..
Death and danger as hard rain hits Sydney
ian walker The Daily Telegraph March 25, 2014 12:00AM
VIDEO
Board riders brave the strong swell and stormy weather at Avoca Beach. Source: News Corp Australia
A storm rolling from over the mountains over Wollongong / Picture: Ian Svegovic Source: News Corp Australia
The corner of Elizabeth and Liverpool Sts / Picture: Bradley Hunter Source: News Corp Australia
Oxford St, Darlinghurst / Picture: Chris Pavlich Source: News Corp Australia
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