A host of global agencies confirmed on Wednesday that 2016 was the hottest year on record, making it the third straight to raise the roof on global temperatures and spark further concerns about global warming.
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While temperatures in the Tamworth region were also on the rise the city did not encounter a record year, although we did break some other records and already have another one in our sights as we swelter through January.
The global warming trend is all but undeniable, with 15 of the hottest 16 years on record happening this century, while the other year was 1998.
To put those record in perspective the last time the globe recorded a record cold year was in 1911 after records began in 1880.
While Australia and the north west region is at the forefront of that trend the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that while it wasn’t our regions hottest year on record, it was still the fourth hottest with temperatures up by an average of 0.5%.
NSW Climatologist Acacia Pepler said that the region had a variable year in 2016 where a hot and dry Summer was off-set by a wet Winter.
“The start of 2016 was warm and dry with only 20% of the average rainfall falling from February to April with the warmest Autumn on record,” Ms Pepler said.
“Then that flipped heading into Winter with the wettest June to September on record and cold temperatures in early Spring.”
While that cool Spring and wet Winter kept the region just behind global patterns as far as record rises in temperatures, we are already well on our way to a few records for 2017, and we have only experienced half a month so far.
Tamworth has already experienced 11 days of temperatures over 35 degrees this month, already one above the average with 11 days remaining, although still a way off the record 20 days set in 2006 and matched in 2013.
Meanwhile this current hot streak has seen the city sweltering for 34 consecutive days with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees.
“Last year Tamworth had a run of 40 consecutive days of over 30 degrees between February and March,” Ms Pepler said.
The Bureau is also warning that this current heatwave isn’t expected to break anytime soon as local farmers again face the prospect of a hot and dry close to the Summer season.
“We are forecasting dryer than average conditions right across eastern NSW for the next three months. The hot weather looks like continuing through to March and we are predicting a 70% chance that 2017 will be hotter than average,” Ms Pepler said.
Global temperatures have risen 0.7 degrees per decade since 1880, accelerating to a 0.17-degree per decade rate since 1970.