Global Warming

Hot, but don't blame global warming
The Australian

A HEATWAVE in the nation's southeast was a regular new year event and could not be linked to global warming.

Former director of the Bureau of Meteorology's National Climate Centre Bill Kininmonth said the temperature spike in Sydney on Sunday to 44.2C was "just one of those sorts of things we have" every summer.

"It was not extensive - although it was intense - and it was not unprecedented," he said.

[snip]

.... [figures show] the number of extremely hot days has declined since the 1940s.

Sydney weather consultant Don White said heatwaves were becoming less frequent and anybody who believed the heatwave was linked to global warming should "go back and look at the records", which would show hotter days in the past.

In the 1940s, Sydney had 10 days of 40C or higher. From 1955 to 1980 there were seven such days, and from 1981 to 2005 there were five.

Between 1939 and 1964, Sydney recorded 37.8C, the old 100 Fahrenheit, on 18 days, but registered the mark only nine times, including on Sunday, since 1965. Read all of it.