A new mobile-first tool reveals what temperatures will be like in more than 15,000 locations around Australia in 2050 if we continue on a business-as-usual emissions trajectory.
A staggering 99% of locations are projected to experience heating temperatures, with some areas’ average daily maximum temperature increasing between 4° and 4.8°C.
The majority of areas will lose the winter season all together – spelling disaster for Australia’s Alpine regions, which rely on a stable climate and winter tourism.
Thredbo in the NSW Snowy Mountains is one area that is forecast to see 4.8° of warming by the year 2050, which means a longer and hotter summer and no recognisable winter.
Inland urban suburbs are also badly impacted. By 2050, Penrith in Sydney’s western suburbs will experience an 11% increase in the average maximum daily temperature – which means summer will be 2.7° hotter with a staggering 86 more days over 30°C.
The MyClimate 2050 tool was put together by Assoc Prof Geoff Hinchcliffe from the Australian National University using 2050 climate projections from the CSIRO.
The tool allows anyone to search by postcode to see how much average temperatures are expected to increase in their suburb or town by 2050.
“The tool aims to give people a personal and localised appreciation of climate ideas that are typically considered at global scales are can be difficult to comprehend,” the ANU’s Assoc Prof Hinchcliffe said.
“It’s a form of storytelling, a way to bring climate data into an everyday context and remind people of the urgent need to act.”
The Australian Conservation Foundation will use this tool for educational purposes to reveal just how serious the implication of global heating will become in Australia.
“This tool starkly illustrates how unbearably hot summers will become if we continue polluting our climate like there’s no tomorrow,” said ACF climate change program manager Gavan McFadzean.
“Winters will effectively disappear in large parts of the country, while more than 2,000 locations are forecast to have more than 30 days with temperatures over 35°.
“Hotter summers mean more deaths from heatstroke, more houses destroyed in bushfires and more koalas and other wildlife dying from thirst and incineration.
“The release of this tool comes as the Albanese government finalises the design of the most important climate policy it will release this term – the safeguard mechanism.
“We need a strong safeguard mechanism that rules out new coal and gas and starts to seriously hold big polluters to account. We can’t continue on this path.
“Burning more coal, oil and gas will lead to more severe droughts, bushfires, floods, storms and rising sea levels.
“Our climate future is shaped by what we do today, so we need to quickly shift away from burning coal and gas, ramp up renewable energy use and protect and restore nature.”
Check out the tool and your local postcode: https://myclimate.acf.org.au/
