The burgeoning colony of Sydney was blanketed with up to an inch of snow on a bitterly cold morning in June 1836. This historic event was recently uncovered in a newspaper archive by a volunteer from the citizen science project, OzDocs. ‘About seven o’clock in the morning a drifting fall covered the streets, nearly an … Continue reading 1836: Snow in Sydney
The team behind the citizen science project, OzDocs, was awarded a University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor’s Staff Engagement Grant at an official ceremony on 30 September 2011. The goal of the OzDocs project is to piece together Australian climate varitaions from the time of first European settlement until official weather records begin in 1900. As … Continue reading OzDocs project receives engagement award
Claire Fenby in the State Library of NSW. In late July 2011 Linden Ashcroft and Claire Fenby, two PhD students from the SEARCH team, spent three weeks delving into the rich collection of historical documents at the State Library of NSW. By the end of their research trip the pair had unearthed an abundance of … Continue reading Research Trip to the State Library of NSW
The severe drought that afflicted South Eastern Australia from 1997–2009 ‘Big Dry’ is likely to have been the worst since first European settlement according to a new study by climate scientists at the University of Melbourne. The researchers used data derived from tree rings and coral records to determine that there is a 97% chance … Continue reading ‘Big Dry’ worst drought since European settlement
Settlements along the Clarence River in NSW were inundated with record-breaking floodwaters that claimed the lives of 9 people and caused extensive damage to riverside towns and farms in February 1863. The flood followed 2 months of wet weather that had brought an end to a severe drought. The relief felt after the drought broke … Continue reading 1863: Drought Followed by Devastating Flood
The University of Western Australia hosted a workshop last week that brought together a group of researchers who are piecing together a detailed reconstruction of Australasia’s climate over the past 2000 years. The group, know as Aus2K, is the Australasian component of an international effort coordinated by Past Global Changes (PAGES) to reconstruct the Earth’s … Continue reading Piecing together Australasia’s past
On November 29, 1837 hot and windy conditions sparked extensive bushfires that raged across Sydney's north shore, an area that is now a dense urban landscape. Fires were reported all the way from Mosman to Parramatta spanning approximately 20km along the northern shore. "Whatever direction the eye turned fires were to be observed" reported the … Continue reading 1837: Sydney’s North Shore on Fire
Monster cyclones in Queensland, floods in Victoria, bushfires in Perth, heat waves in Russia and snow storms in Europe were a few of the extreme weather events that prompted a recent public talk on the scientific perspective of current extreme weather. SEARCH researchers Karl Braganza (Bureau of Meteorology), Neville Nicholls (Monash University) and David Karoly … Continue reading Extreme weather in 2011: A Scientific Perspective
The dramatic drop in water flowing through the River Murray between 1998 and 2008 was probably a once-in-1500-year event according to a new study by researchers at the University of Melbourne. The study reports that although streamflow has varied considerably in the last 200 years, there is a 98% chance that the streamflow deficit experienced … Continue reading River Murray’s record low flow
Extreme weather events linked to El Nino Southern Oscillation played a hand in shaping the culture of modern Australia according to a new book chapter by climate historian Don Garden. The chapter examines the social, political and cultural significance of The Federation Drought, which has been linked to a series of strong El Nino events. … Continue reading El Nino influenced Australian identity
Climate History Australia 