NSW, Queensland and Tasmania experienced hottest winters with spring likely to deliver hotter than average temperatures too
Australia’s winter of 2023 was the warmest since official records began in 1910, with average daily temperatures 1.53C above the long-term average.
According to data from the Bureau of Meteorology released on Friday, the 2023 winter beat the previous record of 1.46C above the average set in 1996. Every winter since 2012 has been warmer than the 30-year average calculated from 1961 to 1990.
Global heating and weather conditions that delivered sunny days were behind the record, scientists said.
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Dr Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, said the winter warmth was “pretty consistent with the trend towards warming that we have already seen and expect to continue as we keep emitting greenhouse gases”.
King said the high-pressure systems that brought the extra warmth were “part of the story”, adding “we would not get the temperatures that we have seen this winter really happening without human-caused climate change”.
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