Climate change increasing the intensity and impact of extreme weather
Cyclones are expected to be less likely in the future due to climate change, though the intensity and impact of extreme weather will be greater, according to a senior climatologist with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
Dr Blair Trewin has told an Australian emergency management conference in Sydney that tropical cyclones are holding more moisture and dumping more rainfall.
He said Hurricane Harvey produced record rainfall because it parked for four days over Texas in the United States.
Dr Trewin said storm surges would also become worse as a result of sea levels that were rising at 3.4 millimetres per year.
He said extreme heat events were already occurring with greater frequency and intensity, which he said were both indicators of a changing climate.
Kakela