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Climate change denial is possibly easier with geography, indeed rising sea-levels might not be as evident to you if water isn’t lapping at your ankles like if you lived in a village in the Maldives.
And there are always more than a few snickers whenever a rally calling for action on climate change is cancelled/postponed due to snow.
By talk back radio caller logic, “if I think it’s been hotter before, climate change mustn’t be happening”.
But the fact of the matter is that the world is getting hotter and that includes the little patch known as the Mid-Western Region.
Climate scientist and member of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), Anny Cazenave, last week said "to skeptics I would say compare the current climate in 2019 to that of 10 or 15 years ago. I would simply say to them to look at the facts and observations".
"So the question now becomes “what are we going to do about it?”
Last week also saw the Bureau of Meteorology release its Annual Climate Statement for 2018, which also showed nine of the 10 warmest years on record in Australia have occurred since 2005.
If you filter down to the Mid-Western Region the three local BOM weather stations had 10 heat records between them either broken or leveled last year, including the hottest year on record for Mudgee and Gulgong.
More tellingly, the majority of the previous records that have been bested or matched were also within that 10 to 15 year window.
But here’s a game you can play on your home computer to see for yourself; go to the BOM’s online climate data section [www.bom.gov.au/climate/data]; select ‘data about temperature’ and ‘monthly’; and ‘mean maximum [or minimum] temperature’; pick your local weather station and hit ‘get data’.
When you’re presented with the table of data showing the monthly mean of the temperature selected, use the drop-down box to highlight ‘highest’.
What this shows is that the majority of hottest months on record have occurred since 2005, sure there are outliers but the grouping is plain to see at even a cursory glance.
This game also works for highest single temperatures recorded at each location.
The numbers are in, the world is getting warmer and that includes our part of it.
So the question now becomes “what are we going to do about it?”