Thursday 3 January 2008

MEDIA RELEASE

2007 a record warm year in southern Australia

For many Australians, 2007 was the warmest year on record, although when averaged across the whole of the continent, it was only the sixth warmest year.

Other features of the Bureau of Meteorology’s 2007 Climate Statement, issued by its National Climate Centre, include near average rainfall but with a dry winter and spring following rain in southern Australia earlier in the year.

Statistically, the mean temperature for Australia was 0.67°C above average in 2007, making it the sixth warmest year since high quality Australia-wide records commenced in 1910.

But in the southern half of the continent temperatures were well above normal, with the Murray Darling Basin, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria all recording their warmest years on record.

A grim feature of the year has been extremely low water availability across parts of Australia. Despite promising rains during the first half of the year, July to October was particularly dry. It was not until November that rain returned to much of the continent with the emergence of a La Niña event.

Overall, annual rainfall was average to above average across northern and central Australia, and average to below average in the southwest, with mixed results in the southeast. Patchy rainfall across southern Australia means that long-term droughts persist in the far southwest and in the southeast, including the Murray Darling Basin, all of Victoria and northern Tasmania. South-eastern Australia has now missed out on the equivalent of an average year’s rainfall over the duration of this continuing 11 year drought.

Since 1 January 1908, the Bureau of Meteorology has been responsible for collecting, managing and safeguarding Australia’s climate record. It is this national climate archive that allows data recorded today to be placed in historical context.

The Annual Australian Climate Statement 2007 can be viewed at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/

State climate summaries can be viewed at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/index.shtml

Further information:

National
Dr David Jones, Head of Climate Analysis, Bureau of Meteorology, (03) 9669 4085
Dean Collins, Climatologist, Bureau of Meteorology, (03) 9669 4780
Blair Trewin, Climatologist, Bureau of Meteorology, (03) 9669 4623

State
ACT - Clinton Rakich - 02 9296 1525
NSW - Clinton Rakich - 02 9296 1525
NT - Sam Cleland - 08 8920 3813
QLD - Tamika Tihema 07 3239 8660
SA - Darren Ray - 08 8366 2691
TAS - Ian Barnes-Keoghan - 03 6221 2043
VIC - Blair Trewin - 03 9669 4623
WA - Neil Bennett - 08 9263 2279

Media assistance:
David Grant, Media adviser, Bureau of Meteorology, 0439 452 424

Ends