Since temperatures are a key component of dangerous fire weather - along with fuel, wind and humidity - it is not surprising climate change is nudging Australia's fire risks higher.
“Across the country, at a number of high-quality long-term weather stations, there had either been an increase, or no change," Clarke says. "We didn’t find a significant decrease anywhere.” “It’s not much comfort because there are more models that are projecting quite large changes in both average and extreme conditions, with spring particularly highlighted,” he said.
Adaptation is taking many forms, including additional "toys" such as NSW's newly bought 737 Large Air Tanker, with its 15,142-litre payload to drop on blazes.Instead, residents are more likely to tap into information technology advances that will help them understand the evolving threats near them. Damage claims from bushfires are not yet "loss leaders" for the industry compared with cyclones, floods and storms, Karl Sullivan, head of risk operations for the Insurance Council of Australia, says.
Mark Leplastrier, executive manager for natural perils at IAG, says bushfires were increasingly occurring outside the traditional fire season and in some areas of Victoria, for instance, were a greater risk for insurers than floods.
p_hannam Easily fixed. Cut down the trees. Sell the wood. More land for housing. Win/win/win
p_hannam Meanwhile, extended ski season Perisher inconvenient fact for climate alarmists...
deniseshrivell p_hannam Bushfire story: 'Fear, anxiety about the summer to come'. Totally unrelated to this pic then.
p_hannam Meanwhile, extended ski season Perisher...
Allen11Cynthia p_hannam Sorry. This has been California for the last 10 years. In the past, we worried about the winds. Now we worry about fires, especially when the winds come.