As Canberra experienced a ‘complex weather pattern’ and Sydney received rains, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) predicted a hotter and drier than usual year due to an El Nino climate pattern forming in the tropical Pacific Ocean (Canberra Times, March 25, 2014).
A
United Airline 747 was forced to land at Canberra Airport as high winds and
rainfall spread across the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and eastern New
South Wales (NSW) on Monday. Two aircraft were diverted from Sydney to
Canberra.
At
least 10 millimitres fell on Canberra yesterday and winds reached speeds up to
30 km/hr. The BOM said it was a ‘complex weather pattern’ coming from
Queensland. The thunderstorm was more intense on the coast, rather than in
Canberra. Sydney also experienced the force of the storms with almost 100
millimetres of rain in an hour at lunch-time on Monday. In Sydney, one man
drowned, two were struck by lightning, and at least six people were trapped in
their cars in flooded streets.
Residents
in Sydney’s southwest were asked to monitor their water use, and to avoid using
dishwashers and washing machines to conserve drinking water supplies. This was
due to the heavy storms forcing the shutdown of a major water filtration plant.
The precautions were expected to be only for 24 hours as the rainwater put
excessive pressure on the Macarthur Filtration Plant, reported Canberra Times. The
storms of recent days had triggered a release of silt into the Cataract Dam
which reduced the quality of water reaching the plant. The water authority
began spilling the dam to reduce the water’s turbidity, and the authority
stated that water was not expected to run out. Today the plant was back online and stable. This
is the second time in four months that the filtration plant has been disrupted
due to heavy rain.
Despite
the rain, the BOM predicted a hotter, drier year for the remainder of 2014.
Surface waters in the equatorial Pacific have warmed significantly in the past
two months, said the Bureau. Temperatures in some areas of Australia rose half
a degree in the past two weeks and as much as 5-6 degrees above average. The
Bureau said 1997 was probably the last time they’ve seen such a temperature
anomaly.
El
Ninos are patterns that affect global climate, in which warming waters in the
central eastern Pacific cause easterly winds to weaken and even reverse. These
mean that the rainfall patterns shift, bringing lower than usual rainfall to
the eastern coast of Australia. On the other side of the Pacific, it may cause
the western coast of America, in regions such as California, to receive higher
than usual rainfall. Temperatures tend to be higher in El Nino years. Eight of
the 10 warmest years on record in Australia were El Nino years, according to a University
of Melbourne climatologist.
For
areas, other than Sydney and Canberra where rains fell on the weekend, about
80% of Queensland and northern NSW had already declared a drought, prompting
the federal government to earmark $280 million in low-cost loans to help
farmers stay in business.
The
latest climate models project continued warming of the Pacific waters in the
coming months with surface temperatures reaching El Nino thresholds during the
southern hemisphere winter, said the BOM. This means reduced rainfall during
Australia’s winter and spring.
Melbourne
registered its first 4-day consecutive temperatures above 41C, while Sydney
recorded 19 consecutive days above 26C up until Sunday – a first for any season
in 155 years. Adelaide too recorded 13 days above 40C in January and February
this year.
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