Australia officially warns of new El Niño – DW – September 19, 2023

In the middle of one per season Unusual heat wave Australia has officially declared an El Nino weather event for the country. Around 60 per cent of the world is affected by the phenomenon, with Australia particularly vulnerable, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). The coming summer threatened extremely high temperatures and violent wildfires. “In all likelihood, expect this summer to be warmer than average and certainly warmer than the last three years,” BoM expert Carl Braganza told reporters.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) had already announced in July that El Niño conditions would prevail in the tropical Pacific for the first time in many years. This could further increase global temperatures and alter regional weather and climate patterns. Governments have been called upon to take precautionary measures to save lives during extreme weather events. The last strong El Niño occurred in 2015/2016.

“Catastrophic” fire risk on south coast

People in many states, particularly in Australia’s east and south, have sweated through days of record temperatures. At some places it is 10 to 16 degrees higher than the average values ​​for September. At the start of the Australian spring, Sydney has already reached a high of 34.6 degrees Celsius – a new record for the period.

Australian media reported, citing officials, that the fire risk on the New South Wales south coast has been upgraded to “catastrophic” due to strong winds. Accordingly, the most populous Australian state currently has 61 people forest fire, 13 fires are not under control. A total fire ban has been imposed for Greater Sydney and southern coastal communities. 20 schools were closed as a precaution.

Animal welfare organization IFAW spoke of a “potentially disastrous summer” and recalled weeks of dramatic consequences. forest fire 2019/2020. During that time, twelve million hectares of land were destroyed and countless animals were killed. Officials have warned of forest fires again. But IFAW expert Robert Leach said Australian wildlife could no longer cope. “I don’t want to imagine what another disastrous summer could mean for our already dwindling populations of iconic species.”

El Niño is a natural weather phenomenon that occurs every few years and is associated with warming tropical Pacific Ocean waters and weakened trade winds. It could bring severe drought to Australia, Indonesia and other parts of South Asia, while increasing rainfall in parts of southern South America, South America, the Horn of Africa and Central Asia. Correlation between El Niño and Climate change It is not yet clear. However, the event may have consequences Climate change tighten

sti/pg (afp, ap, dpa, rtr)