Australasia

Heavy rain that flooded northeast Aotearoa New Zealand is now more common on warmer planet

Satellite image of cyclone Gabrielle above New Zealand.

Climate change a likely cause for the increase, but scientists cannot yet quantify the precise influence of human-caused warming on last month’s rainfall Very heavy rain, like the event that flooded parts of Aotearoa New Zealand in February during Cyclone Gabrielle, has become about four times more common in the region, and extreme rainfall events … Continue reading “Heavy rain that flooded northeast Aotearoa New Zealand is now more common on warmer planet”

The role of climate change in extreme rainfall associated with Cyclone Gabrielle over Aotearoa New Zealand’s East Coast

From the 12th to the 14th of February 2023, northern and eastern regions of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Te Ika-a-Māui (North Island) were hit by extremely heavy rainfall associated with the passage of ex-tropical cyclone Gabrielle. The centre of cyclone Gabrielle stagnated to the east of Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui (Coromandel Peninsula) during the night of February 13/14 … Continue reading “The role of climate change in extreme rainfall associated with Cyclone Gabrielle over Aotearoa New Zealand’s East Coast”

Extreme heat in southeast Australia, February 2017

Extreme heat in Australia, Photo by Linda Xu on Unsplash

New South Wales, southeastern Australia, its hottest summer on record in 2017. Temperature records across the central and the eastern parts of Australia were broken, leading the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to issue a Special Climate Statement on the exceptional heat.