The proximate cause is a positive Indian Ocean Dipole and possibly a warm phase Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Google those to learn more about them; the IOD is a similar dynamic to El Nino/La Nina. A warm PDO tends to bring about more El Nino/dry periods in the western Pacific.
What climate change does, though, is amplify extremes, so droughts tend to be longer and hotter, storms and rain more intense, etc. I do think Australia will eventually be in a state of near permanent water shortages as most years will be drier than average, with a few extremely wet years thrown in every now and then e.g. in a strong La Nina. There will have to be a radical shift in agriculture and some areas such as NW NSW will become unviable for traditional crops.
Nah I couldn’t live in Darwin. If you can hack the heat it is a nice place; much quieter than the major centres down south and a nice relaxing ‘vibe’ so I’m told. There is a seabreeze with the temp differentials you mention but with sea surface temperatures in the high 20s to low 30s most of the year, it aint what I’d call cool. I consider the Tasman Sea off Sydney too warm at its 24-25C maximum in late summer (sometimes 26C nowadays).
As a resident of North Queensland, I can strongly recommend staying away from the tropics!
The weather here is overwhelmingly sunny, hot and very humid.
Occasionally there’s lots of rain and floods, occasionally there may be a storm, but the vast, vast majority of the year is just sunny, hot, humid, repeat.
My partner and I are moving south in December next year to get away from the tropical weather. We live in a lovely area of Townsville in a really nice house, and generally like the city, but we can’t stand the weather anymore. There’s just nothing good about it.
We are staying for one more year for our jobs, then moving to Canberra next December. We can’t wait to get down there to some proper Winter weather. Though we are dreading having to find new jobs and a house, especially from this far away when we can’t just pop out for a drive to check it out.
A good choice. Canberra’s summers are getting hotter as well but it’s generally only consistently hot for 6-8 weeks of the year, roughly from Christmas/NY to the second week of Feb. Humidity is generally very low when it gets above 30, though. You can always make a day trip to the Snowies or the coast to get away from the heat.
If you don’t want to ever worry about heat and humidity again, I’d recommend the NW coast of Tassie. It’s virtually impossible to get a day above about 32 there, because any hot northerly wind off the ‘North Island’ must cross Bass Strait first. The trouble is lack of employment opportunities, and isolation if you’ve got family on the mainland. A great place to retire, though.
It’s still November, but Perth had hit a top of 40.4 degrees at 1:20PM which was the not just the hottest November day, but also spring day on Record. This surpassed the previous record of 40.3 degrees back in November 11, 2003.
South Australia is getting that on Wednesday, Adelaide’s forecast at this stage is 42, many regional areas expecting 43. One thing I don’t miss about living there
I’m with @dxnerd on preferring a “miserable” climate than a sunny & humid one.
For instance, I would rather move to Tassie than to QLD, even though more people would rather move to the latter.
Even though it’s not nearly as bad as places further north, I personally find Sydney to be too humid for my liking, even though I’ve been living there my whole life. In fact, when I was over in Perth recently, my parents find its lower humidity more to their liking than what it is back home, in which they find it to be more comfortable. However, they wouldn’t move to Perth or Adelaide, as it gets too hot in summer for their liking, even though it’s dry heat as opposed to ‘humid heat’ that Sydney gets.
Right now, as the sweat rolls down my back at the mere thought of getting up to just walk around the house, I’d almost agree with you. But those coastlines southwest and southeast of Melbourne can be a definition of miserable that would rival parts of Tasmania
I could almost do Perth climate-wise I think, still lots of sun, winters are a bit milder than Melbourne/Adelaide, and though it does get very hot (and continuously so), it’s never humid. It’s just so bloody far away from, well, anything…
Was recently in Perth, Arrived home yesterday but i noticed that the CBD was the hottest place and reached those temps. I was staying North of Perth around 40 minutes away and we barley reached the maximum temp it felt mid to high 20’s.
My aunt & uncle (who I stayed with), as well as my cousin, also live north of Perth, but further away from the city than where you were staying. They also live close to the coast.
There’s plenty of development up this way, particularly in suburbs like Butler, Alkimos & Eglinton. The construction of the rail line from Butler to Yanchep is due to commence very soon & is set to open within the next 2-3 years.
Interesting fact: it’s the 2nd largest shopping centre in Perth/WA after Westfield Carousel.
Would agree that they are miserable for a small part of the year, mainly July-September when there’s near constant wind and rain (under the ‘old’ climate; May-October). Don’t mind the rain but I’m not a fan of regular bouts of gale to storm force wind. But I’d take the wind over constant heat and smoke. There’s not much snow in southern VIC either apart from the very occasional fall on the Otways and Strzelecki ranges.
Tassie is of course worse for wind and for a greater part of the year than southern VIC. That and the isolation are my main issues with the Apple Isle. In the warmer months these areas are great, though.
So, how is @tamago_otoko enjoying the lovely Brisbane weather at the moment? The forecast for the next few days looks pure hell: high 30s to low 40s by day, smoke haze, and minima in the 20s. Really putting the ‘Indoor’ in ‘Indooroopilly’.
In Sydney it’s been pure hell this week with constant dry, dessicating westerly winds and choking smoke. What’s worse is that about 20 km to the south of me, it’s been clear all week. The North Coast has been suffering for longer. At least the temperatures, apart from today’s mid 30s, have been somewhat bearable.
The sight of cool and sometimes damp weather in Adelaide for the cricket was pretty hard to take. A symptom of the current weather pattern. I do wonder whether the southern states will cop it just as bad as the summer progresses, though.
Sorry but good to see Perth suffering a bit; you have had it easy the last five or so years whilst the eastern states have cooked. I would still take a smokeless 40C (can run aircon) over the smoky apocalypse we have on the east coast, though.
There’s no humidity so this is fine, just a touch warm. We haven’t even run the aircon in the house this summer, just the ceiling fans (though that could change on Saturday I admit )
The dryness here is the hard part to comprehend at the moment. Normally through spring it’s humid and you can set your watch by the afternoon storms, whereas this year (last Sunday aside) there’s been none of that. Normally the lawn is green and visibly growing to the naked eye at this time of year, but it’s currently dead and hasn’t needed a mow in months. It’s just dry and hot…
I don’t recall a summer like this one in a long time. Just dry, hot, endless. And it’s only December. It’s usually a thunderstorm every two days bringing some cool relief but now it feels like several weeks since the last big storm.
Here’s a photo I took several weeks ago flying into Brisbane, during the worst of the smoke. Apocalyptic was my first thought.
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