By CAROLINE STRAINIG
IF you like things hot, then you’ll be in your element over the coming months.
Like the rest of Australia, the Mid North Coast is in for a real scorcher this summer, with near-record warm seas expected to cause temperatures to remain above average from October to April.
Sky News Weather senior meteorologist Tom Saunders said sea surface temperatures surrounding Australia had remained well above normal through 2013, which had contributed to the nation’s hottest 12 months on record and just recently the hottest September on record.
He said the signs were that the prevailing conditions would continue and with them the higher temperatures.
“As a result, there will be more heatwaves and thunderstorms in southern Australia and cyclones in northern Australia and we have issued a severe weather outlook,” he told the Independent.
“One of the main concerns is that on the Mid North Coast and many other regions we are expecting up to a 30 per cent increase in the number of days with severe thunderstorms. Yes, you will have almost as much rain as normal, but unfortunately much of that will come from thunderstorms.”
Mr Saunders said if the higher sea surface temperatures had been just a one-off the higher temperatures could just be normal variation. However, over the past decade there had been consistently higher temperatures.
“We have data back to 1910 to compare against, so we’re talking 100 years of records to compare these figures with,” he said.
“Also, the main reason for this forecast is that the sea surface temperatures are warmer than normal right now – and that is a trend that is associated with climate change.”
Another unpleasant downside to the warmer weather is the higher risk of bushfires and the bushfire season is already underway with a vengeance, with the NSW Rural Fire Service called to hundreds of fires in NSW, including some in the Port Macquarie region.
