Incredible flood pictures tell the story of the new hottest year on record
www.abc.net.au
Floods and devastating storms gave way to heatwaves in a year that broke all previous temperature records, according to international climate agency Copernicus.

Hot days and hot nights dominated much of the country this year in Australia, despite some severe cold snaps during the winter. This resulted in Australia coming away with its second hottest year on record, overall, since 1910, when reliable national data became available.

A staggering 78.9 per cent of the world’s coral reef areas — from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Indian oceans — have so far been subjected to bleaching-level heat stress.

It included the seventh mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef since 1998, and fifth in eight years.

Contemplating an up coming Federal election, I wonder what goes through voters minds when they see all of this ?

  • humanspiralEnglish
    2·
    10 days ago

    From “water report” details:

    In 2024, months with record-low precipitation were 38% more common than during the 1995-2005 baseline period, while record-high 24h rainfall extremes were 52% more frequent.

    Water-related disasters caused major damage in 2024. They caused over 8,700 deaths, displaced 40 million people, and inflicted more than US$550 billion in damages. Flash floods, landslides, and tropical cyclones were the worst types of disasters in terms of casualties and economic damage.

    The likelihood of monthly records set should go down each year, in a non global warming world, because the bar always gets higher. The damages number is a big insurance factor, and the data does not include forest fires.

    A missing topic in OP is that Arctic sea ice extent and volume are at extreme record low levels currently, that may lead to a blue north pole next summer. Hudson and Baffin Bay and Labrador sea being the main record low spots also means an early spring for Greenland and more melting on its west coast.

    Arctic summer temperatures have been pretty stable since 2016. Ice extent and volume keeps declining because current temperatures are enough for ocean to get warmer each year both earlier and later in melt season that delays and weakens total freezing.