Australia Sees Record August Temperatures

AFP/APP
Sydney: Australia just experienced its warmest August on record, with temperatures exceeding the long-term average by over three degrees Celsius. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, this was the hottest August since records began in 1910, with several parts of the continent recording their highest-ever maximum and minimum temperatures.

The area-averaged mean temperature was 3.03 degrees Celsius above the long-term average. The antipodean winter, running from June to August, was Australia’s second-warmest on record, after 2023.
The bureau reported that both daytime and nighttime temperatures were over 10 degrees Celsius above the August average in large parts of the country.

Australia’s climate is significantly affected by three cyclical climate patterns: changes in Indian Ocean temperatures, shifts in the wind belt between Australia and Antarctica, and changes in Pacific weather patterns known as El Niño and La Niña.

Human-induced climate change impacts all three phenomena, leading to more intense weather events such as bushfires, floods, droughts, and heatwaves.