The Australian
By: Jared Owens, Lanai Vasek
Additional Reporting: AAP
Sydney swelters while Melbourne mops up after a deluge
IT was a weekend of extremes. Melbourne copped a month's worth of rain in just 17 hours, NSW grappled with catastrophic bushfire conditions and record November temperatures -- and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong linked the weather patterns to the effects of global warming.
Sydney's average maximum temperature was a little more than 40C yesterday, making it the city's hottest November day in 27 years, while crews in Melbourne were still mopping up last night after a devastating storm lashed the Victorian capital.
"We've seen increased numbers of storms, we've seen much less rain, particularly in southeastern Australia we've seen hotter and drier temperatures and conditions,'' Senator Wong said.
"All of these are consistent with the trends that climate scientists are talking to us about, and just underline to us why Australia is so vulnerable to climate change.''
Liberal backbencher Dennis Jensen criticised Senator Wong for making the connection.
"You're always going to get weather records broken, whether you have climate change or not,'' Dr Jensen said. "The reality is the climate's always changing.''
Kevin Rudd also linked the weekend's weather extremes to the ETS debate. "Everyone in Australia thinking about this, this weekend, would work it out that we are among the hottest and driest continents on Earth,'' the Prime Minister said.
"We will feel the effects of climate change fastest and hardest, and therefore we must act this week, and the government will be doing everything possible to make sure that can occur.''
In Sydney yesterday, while some turned to the beach to cool down, not everyone was cool enough. Three-year-old Georgia Bradley was struggling and decided to cool off with a garden hose after her swim at Little Manly beach. "It's really, really, really hot today,'' the toddler said, splashing about with the hose.
The Bradley family, from Lane Cove in Sydney's north, make the trip to Little Manly almost every week in summer but said they "escape to New Zealand'' during the hotter December period.
In Melbourne, about 53mm of rain fell between 6pm Saturday and 11am Sunday, taking the city's November rainfall total above the 57mm monthly average.
Weather bureau senior forecaster Peter Blake said only 6.6mm of rain had been recorded in Melbourne in the first 20 days of the month.
"It is incredible when last week it was so parched and everybody was complaining about the heat. Now it's very much the opposite,'' he said.
But he said more rain was needed before there would be any significant run-off and less rain fell around Melbourne's catchments, including the Thomson Dam.
Earlier this month, Adelaide had its longest spring heatwave since records began in 1887, with eight consecutive days of more than 35C.
On the other side of the globe, storms continued to lash Britain and Ireland yesterday, collapsing bridges and killing two people, including a policeman.