A stormy start to Australia’s summer by Jay Wynne
For the past two weeks, parts of Australia have been hit by a series of violent storms, bringing torrential rain and gale force winds.
The latest storm hit Huntingdale, Melbourne on Friday, and disrupted play at the Australian Masters golf competition. Eighty golfers were forced off the course, as the hail-laced storm swept through.
New South Wales, Victoria and southern Queensland have been the worst affected regions. In Queensland a temporary dam used to hold back flood waters burst, killing one young girl. In the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, 10cm of snow fell, which is unseasonably late in the year.
The stormy weather has not just been confined to eastern Australia. In the town of Salmon Gums, Western Australia, there has been some intense rainfall and hail the size of golf balls. Crops have been destroyed and livestock killed.
Climate scientists from the ‘Griffith Centre for Coastal Management’ have been researching long-term patterns in the prevailing climate. They theorise that the climate alternates between drought and storm conditions over a 30 to 40 year cycle. Australia may be coming out of a 30-year drought phase and entering a period of more stormy weather.
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