Extract from ABC News website.
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The UN's World Meteorological Agency has found that this year Australia has had the most extreme warming of any country.
Source: Lateline
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Topics:
climate-change,
australia
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The UN's World Meteorological
Agency has found that climate change is increasing the impact of storms
like Typhoon Haiyan. And closer to home, in findings released tonight,
the WMO says that Australia this year has experienced the world's
biggest increase in average temperatures. This report from Jake Sturmer.
JAKE STURMER, REPORTER: You don't have to look very hard to see the devastating impacts of extreme heat.
The bushfires that ripped through NSW last month destroyed around 200 homes. It was an extreme weather event that devastated families and communities. The World Meteorological Organisation's state of play has found this year Australia has had the biggest average temperature rise in the world.
LESLEY HUGHES, CLIMATE COUNCIL: And it's the extremes that really matter in terms of impacts. You know, we've got a lot more heatwaves, a lot more really hot days, we've just had probably an unprecedentedly severe early start to the fire season in the Blue Mountains.
JAKE STURMER: And it's not just records being smashed in Australia. The UN's meteorological organisation found that temperatures had continued to rise almost everywhere.
LESLEY HUGHES: What the WMO is putting out is to basically confirm a lot of patterns that we've already seen developing over the last few decades, so they show that 2013 is shaping up to be in the 10 warmest years on records.
JAKE STURMER: But the WMO's statement doesn't just look at temperatures. It also found that global sea levels reached a new record high, rising at an average rate of 3.2 millimetres per year. And while it doesn't directly blame climate change for the devastating Typhoon Haiyan, it does say that sea level rise has made its effects more powerful.
JOHN CHURCH, CSIRO: The impact of storm surges will be felt more acutely present days and into the future 'cause sea level will continue to rise for many decades and probably centuries depending on how we continue to emit greenhouse gases.
JAKE STURMER: The climate snapshot will help inform policymakers gathered at the UN's climate talks in Poland. But there's no minister from the Australian Government. Instead, it's sent its Ambassador for Climate Change.
Jake Sturmer, Lateline.
JAKE STURMER, REPORTER: You don't have to look very hard to see the devastating impacts of extreme heat.
The bushfires that ripped through NSW last month destroyed around 200 homes. It was an extreme weather event that devastated families and communities. The World Meteorological Organisation's state of play has found this year Australia has had the biggest average temperature rise in the world.
LESLEY HUGHES, CLIMATE COUNCIL: And it's the extremes that really matter in terms of impacts. You know, we've got a lot more heatwaves, a lot more really hot days, we've just had probably an unprecedentedly severe early start to the fire season in the Blue Mountains.
JAKE STURMER: And it's not just records being smashed in Australia. The UN's meteorological organisation found that temperatures had continued to rise almost everywhere.
LESLEY HUGHES: What the WMO is putting out is to basically confirm a lot of patterns that we've already seen developing over the last few decades, so they show that 2013 is shaping up to be in the 10 warmest years on records.
JAKE STURMER: But the WMO's statement doesn't just look at temperatures. It also found that global sea levels reached a new record high, rising at an average rate of 3.2 millimetres per year. And while it doesn't directly blame climate change for the devastating Typhoon Haiyan, it does say that sea level rise has made its effects more powerful.
JOHN CHURCH, CSIRO: The impact of storm surges will be felt more acutely present days and into the future 'cause sea level will continue to rise for many decades and probably centuries depending on how we continue to emit greenhouse gases.
JAKE STURMER: The climate snapshot will help inform policymakers gathered at the UN's climate talks in Poland. But there's no minister from the Australian Government. Instead, it's sent its Ambassador for Climate Change.
Jake Sturmer, Lateline.
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