Hot Air from Australia Causes NZ Heatwave

“Hot air from Australia has helped to produce scorching temperatures for many parts of New Zealand this week” with parts of Hawke’s Bay and Richmond in the Nelson area topping “the scale at 35 degrees”. Paul Gorman reports for the Sydney Morning Herald.

“As year on year we break new heat records as a result of our collective failure to act on climate change, New Zealand urgently needs a climate change and health adaptation plan, so that we can ensure people’s health is protected from the impacts of climate change, including these higher summer temperatures,” said Alex Macmillan, a senior lecturer in Environmental Health at the University of Otago.

“The good news is that by investing now in well-designed climate action, including homes and public buildings that are easy to cool without fossil fuels, and better city planning, we can stay healthier and more resilient to heat events like this, and reduce our climate pollution at the same time.”

“Usually, a very warm air mass from the Australian outback would be cooled significantly by contact with the Tasman Sea as it moves across to New Zealand.”

“However, this summer, with another marine heatwave under way and sea-surface temperatures in parts of the Tasman up to 4 degrees warmer than average, that modifying influence on the lowest layers of heated air has been significantly reduced,” writes Gorman.

“Ben Noll, a meteorologist with New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research discussed in a recent paper in the journal Nature how marine heatwaves would increase with climate change.”

Article Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Paul Gorman, January 28, 2019

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