El Niño in Australia: Here's what you need to know
Australia’s last El Nino was in 2019, which was the country’s hottest year on record.
Video transcript
- An El Nino declaration in Australia is likely just weeks away. Here's what you need to know. El Nino refers to the warming of the ocean surface in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The World Meteorological Organization says El Nino can trigger more extreme heat and increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records.
Australia's last El Nino was in 2019, which was the country's hottest year on record and led into the Black Summer bushfires when more than 3,000 homes were lost 34 people died. Weather bureaus have warned Aussies that now is the time to prepare properties against the risk of bushfires, which are likely to threaten large parts of the country, with Queensland, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory among the jurisdictions expected to cop the brunt of the extremes.
Meteorologist Caitlin Minney told Yahoo News Australia, pretty much everyone in the country will feel the effects of the warm and dry weather. However, although we know El Nino will bring heat, it doesn't guarantee a shocker of a fire season, only that the risk will be increased. After three back-to-back years of La Nina, dams are still full and the ground is still reasonably moist. While the grass in the forest has grown quickly, more drying would be required to turn all of that into fuel.
