Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has declared a La Nina weather event is now underway, with the country’s wettest spring in 10 years to continue into summer.
La Nina is part of a cycle known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) - a naturally occurring shift in ocean temperatures and weather patterns along the equator in the Pacific Ocean, bringing wetter conditions and more cyclones.
As a result, the Bureau’s Head of Operational Climate Services Dr Andrew Watkins said tropical weather and significant rainfall would lash eastern, northern and central parts of Australia over the summer months.
The areas most likely to be hit by heavy rainfall from now until January include Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.
La Nina also brings a 65 per cent higher chance that parts of the country will see more tropical cyclones than usual. However, Dr Watkins said the “good news” is that it also tends to reduce the bushfire risk.
“It does also mean we get cooler temperatures, but we can still get heatwaves and the heatwaves we get over summer tend to be longer, although not as extreme, and more humid,” Dr Watkins told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.
The cycle is likely to persist until at least the end of January 2022 “and possibly through the summer as a whole”.
The announcement marks the first back-to-back event since 2011/12, however, Dr Watkins said this year’s event was not predicted to be as strong.
“Last year we saw a weak to moderate La Nina event, now we’re backing that up with a weaker La Nina event – so far weaker than we saw in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012,” he said.
He added that while this event appeared “weaker” than last year, “the catchments are full, the rivers are full, the soil is wet, so that will actually increase the impact”.
“Because of the conditions we’ve seen over the last couple of months, making the landscape very wet, we are at risk of more widespread flooding than usual.”
The last significant La Nina event hit Australia from 2010 to 2012, leading to the nation’s wettest two years on record with widespread flooding.
The bureau had initially announced a La Nina alert in October, saying it was expected to be confirmed by November.
- with AAP
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vN25ld3MuY29tLmF1L3dlYXRoZXIvc2V2ZXJlLXdlYXRoZXIvYm9tLWRlY2xhcmVzLTIwMjEtbGEtbmluYS13ZWF0aGVyLWV2ZW50LWZvci1hdXN0cmFsaWEtYy00NjYzNTM20gFvaHR0cHM6Ly83bmV3cy5jb20uYXUvd2VhdGhlci9zZXZlcmUtd2VhdGhlci9ib20tZGVjbGFyZXMtMjAyMS1sYS1uaW5hLXdlYXRoZXItZXZlbnQtZm9yLWF1c3RyYWxpYS1jLTQ2NjM1MzYuYW1w?oc=5
2021-11-23 05:37:30Z
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