Australia Experiences Hottest Summer on Record

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia has been experiencing the hottest summer on record. In the past three months, multiple heat records were shattered, but the extreme temperatures also caused bushfires, power outages and were detrimental to the health of many Australians, causing hospital admissions to soar.

South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria were most severely affected during those months. Most recently, Tasmania experienced the most extreme weather for its climate zone, with almost 100 percent of the island’s area above the 99th percentile of average temperatures recorded in the state since 1911. Monsoon rains that were missing from parts of Australia caused waterholes to dry up, which took its toll on cattle and wildlife alike. Many crops, especially fruit, were partially lost to the sweltering weather.

The Meteorology Bureau also said that 2018 and 2017 were the third and fourth-hottest years on the record and that warmer summers were “consistent” with other observations of climate change that they were making.