Australian National University Climate Change Institute data on Bathurst
BATHURST has been one of the hardest hit locations in Australia in terms of temperature rise.
When comparing last year’s average Bathurst temperature to the city’s 30-year long term median, there was an increase of 2.4 degrees.
Bathurst ranked third highest in Australia in terms of the temperature rise, coming in behind Charleville and Miles in Queensland which both recorded an increase of 2.6 degrees, data published by the Australian National University (ANU) shows.
This would be no surprise to the region’s farmers, with 100 per cent of the Central Tablelands currently declared in drought (61.6 per cent) or drought onset (38.4 per cent).
Bathurst Community Climate Action Network president Tracy Sorensen said it was “devastating information to hear and see”.
“It’s not just numbers on a page, it’s people’s livelihoods, it’s extinctions, it’s a way of life – all of these things are effected by an increase in temperature,” she said.
It’s not just numbers on a page, it’s people’s livelihoods, it’s extinctions, it’s a way of life – all of these things are effected by an increase in temperature.
Bathurst Community Climate Action Network president Tracy Sorensen
“This sort of thing is just a taste of what is to come.”
Ms Sorensen said a “catastrophe is looming” in terms of flow-on effects from a global rise in temperature.
“Extreme weather events are becoming more common,” she said.
However, NSW Farmers Association Bathurst branch president David McKay said he was not overly concerned and it was more important to look at long term data, rather than just one year in isolation.
He said, however, that conditions had been “extremely dry for a while”.
Mr McKay said for a long time Bathurst had been known as a “safe area” to farm thanks to favourable weather conditions, however the current drought had made things difficult.
“Droughts have always been around … it’s just a matter of getting though them,” he said.
Already in 2018, Bathurst has recorded well above average temperatures for the first four months of the year, and slightly above for May, while overall rainfall had been 83 millimetres below the city’s long term average.
By this time of the year, Bathurst has usually received a long term average of 260.5 millimetres of rain, however, just 177.5mm has been recorded.
Ms Sorensen said the ANU’s data was “more evidence that we can’t just be business as usual” and that alternatives to coal powered energy needed to be considered more urgently.
She said there was a disconnect in the community about the impacts of temperature rise, and that even slight increases in temperature would have an impact.