Harry Clarke

“Data collected by the Bureau of Meteorology indicate that Australia’s annual mean temperature for 2009 was 0.90°C above the 1961-90 average, making it the nation’s second warmest year since high-quality records began in 1910. High temperatures were especially notable in the southeast during the second half of the year, with Australia, Victoria, South Australia and NSW all recording their warmest July-December periods on record.” The Annual Australian Climate Statement 2009  from which this figure and these quotes are taken is worth reading.

“2009 ends Australia’s warmest decade on record, with a decadal mean temperature anomaly of +0.48°C (above the 1961-90 average). In Australia, each decade since the 1940s has been warmer than the preceding decade. In contrast, decadal temperature variations during the first few decades of Australia’s climate record do not display any specific trend. This suggests an apparent shift in Australia’s climate from one characterised by natural variability to one increasingly characterised by a trend to warmer temperatures.”

Joe Romm supports arguments suggesting that climate change has worsened the current drought.  The arguments are based on Bertrand Timbell and provide a position I have not previously endorsed.  Data from the last few years suggest the long-term rainfall decline in south-eastern Australia is not due to ENSO.  Declines in autumn and more recently spring rainfall the culprit.