Australia experiences its eighth-warmest year on record as temperatures rise

Australia’s average temperature rose by almost 1 degrees Celcius in 2023, matching a global pattern of extreme weather and the earth’s hottest year on record.

The national mean temperature came in 0.98 degrees Celcius warmer than the 1961-1990 average to mark the nation’s eighth-warmest year on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Both the mean annual maximum and minimum temperatures were above average for all states and the Northern Territory, the bureau said in its annual climate summary published on Jan. 5.

Despite starting the year under the La Nina climate pattern, unseasonably widespread warmth in the latter months bumped up mean national temperatures.

Frequent low-to-severe intensity heatwave conditions had parts of northern and central Australia sweltering from October to December.

The August to October period was Australia’s driest three-month period on record since 1900 with surface water storages declining, including those in the Murray-Darling Basin.

It was a much different start to the year with catastrophic flooding wreaking havoc across inland and northern regions.

Above-average rainfall lashed much of northern Australia but it was below average for much of the southeast, southwest and Tasmania.

Nationally averaged rainfall remained high at 1.7 percent above the 1961-1990 average.

Forecasters said the major features of the climate of 2023 were extreme and record-breaking warmth in the global oceans, record-breaking warmth for combined land and ocean temperatures, and a large reduction in annual sea ice around Antarctica.

The average global temperature reached 17.01 degrees Celcius for 2023, surpassing the August 2016 record of 16.92 degrees Celcius, Reuters reported.

The hottest day ever recorded globally was July 3, according to data from the U.S. National Centres for Environmental Prediction.

The year was also provisionally the United Kingdom’s second warmest on record, the Met Office weather service said.

The heat in China was unrelenting with temperature records broken from Beijing to Shanghai as most of the country experienced 2023 on average 0.5 degrees Celcius to 1 degrees Celcius warmer.

A total of 127 national weather stations across the country broke records for daily high temperatures throughout the year, state media reported on Jan. 2.

Beijing smashed a 23-year-old record in July with 27 consecutive days of temperatures of more than 35 degrees Celcius.

The national average temperature of 10.7 degrees Celcius broke the record of 10.5 degrees Celcius set in 2021, state broadcaster CCTV said.

While it’s too early to predict what will drive the climate in 2024, the year ahead is set to follow a similar trend.

“The background of climate change sets 2024 up to be a warmer than average year,” Bureau of Meteorology climatologist Caitlin Minney told AAP.

“Additionally, it is common to see increased temperatures globally in the year following an El Nino.”