BOM Annual Climate Statement Shows 2017 Was Australia's Third-Warmest Year On Record“

ABC News - Kate Doyle

A wet beginning and end of the year bookended a warm, dry winter in 2017. (ABC Open contributor FrancesJones)

Key Points Third warmest year on record despite no El Nino Seven of the 10 hottest years have occurred since 2005 Rainfall 8 per cent above the 1961 to 1990 average, but dry over winter

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has confirmed 2017 was Australia's third-warmest year on record, with temperatures almost a degree above the 1961 to 1990 average.
With a rundown of the year's temperatures, rainfall, climate drivers, major weather events and enough maps to make an atlas, the Annual Climate Statement is a late Christmas present for weather lovers.
In 2017 the main climate drivers, the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Nino Southern Oscillation, were in neutral for much of the year.
But despite there being no El Nino, usually associated with warm temperatures, 2017 was still the third-warmest national mean temperature on record, at 0.95 degrees above the 1961 to 1990 average.
Karl Braganza, BOM's head of climate monitoring, said the figures showed how much Australia had warmed.

The average daily maximums over 2017 were above the 1961 to 1990 average for most of Australia, especially in south-west Queensland and north-west New South Wales. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)

"We have seen that warming across the land surface temperatures and in the ocean surrounding Australia, so they have both warmed by a similar amount and that's consistent with global warming as well," he said.
Seven of the 10 warmest years on record have been recorded since 2005 and only one year was below the 1961 to 1990 average in the past decade.
"Odds [now] favour warmer-than-average temperatures more often than in the past," Dr Braganza said.


Links

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• Sydney Hits Its Highest Temperature Recorded Since 1939 With Penrith Reaching 47.3c
• 2017 Was The Hottest Year On Record Without An El Niño, Thanks To Global Warming
• Global Hot Spot: Exceptional Heat Pushes Up Ocean Temperatures Off Australia
• 2017 Is Set To Be Among The Three Hottest Years On Record
• September 2017 Was Fourth Warmest September On Record
• Australians Endured ‘Exceptional Heat’ During September
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• Sydney, Melbourne Urged To Prepare For 50c Days By End Of Century
• 'Weird Winter': Climate Change Behind Australia's Record Hot And Dry Weather
• Australia Has Hottest Winter On Record As Climate Change Drives Long-Term Warming Trend
• Australia’s Record-Breaking Winter Warmth Linked To Climate Change