In a five-part series this week, Crikey examines the things that divide Australians. Today we get down and dirty with the climate statistics.

Every day Australian weather reports predict floods at one end of the country and drought at the other, and in the face of climate change the frequency of extreme weather conditions are only expected to increase.

Australia is the second-driest continent on the planet (after Antarctica):

  • In early 2007, more than 33,000 Victorian farm animals were in danger of starving to death from drought. 
  • December 2006 in Melbourne saw not only the hottest December day in 53 years, it brought the warmest December night in 45 years, and it snowed on Christmas Day, making it the coldest December 25th on record.
  • The Murray-Darling river system provides three quarters of water consumed nationally, but was already 54% below the previous record minimum in late 2006. Inflow in 2006 was a mere 5% of the average. 
  • Early October snow depth in alpine areas declined by 40% in the 40 years preceding 2005.
  • The 2006-7 Victorian fire season saw 1008 fires and damages of more than $180 million. At the summer’s worst, there were more than 4300 firefighters, 600 tankers, 180 bulldozers and 60 aircraft on the scene. 
  • Australian annual mean temperatures have increased by about 0.9°C since 1910. 
  • The 2002 drought cut agricultural output by 30% and cut 1.6% off GDP.

Although at the same time:

  • Flooding is Australia’s costliest form of natural disaster, with losses estimated at over $400 million a year.
  • On February 15 this year, a record 624mm of rain was dumped in ten hours on Mackay, in central Queensland – more than half a year’s worth of rain. 
  • Cyclone Larry reached the far North Queensland coast on March 20th 2006 with wind gusts at 240 km per hour and causing more than $1 billion in damage. 

Into the future:

  • Australia is likely to feel the impact of climate change more than other developed countries because the climate is already hot, dry and variable, our economy relies very heavily on agriculture which is expected to be negatively impacted by global warming. 
  • The number of days with very high or extreme fire risk could increase by 25% by 2020 and 70% by 2050. 
  • Temperatures in Australia are expected to warm from 1990 levels between 0.4 and 2ºC by 2030 and between 1 and 6 ºC by 2070. 
  • Asthma affects over two million Australians, a figure that is expected to increase with global warming, because as climate change impacts plant growth and pollen production, there will be increased allergens in the air, which are one of the major causes of asthma.
  • The 2008 Garnaut review found that the Rudd Government’s target of cutting 60% of emissions by 2050 will not be enough to prevent dangerous global warming. 

A final statistic: 

  • The Australian Conservation Foundation estimated that in 2007 the Australian Government spent more than $5 billion annually subsidising the fossil fuel industry, and yet the cost of climate change in the 2006-7 financial year was expected to have exceeded $1 billion.