Extreme is the new normal Globally, it’s already a bumper year
in terms of extreme weather, according to the World
Meteorological Organisation. As freezing temperatures threatened
electric power supplies in China this month, traffic lights
stopped working in Russia. At the other end of the scale, Brazil
is in the grip of a heatwave which may force power rationing as
reservoir levels drop. Australia’s weather is typically extreme
yet incidents are more frequent. Last year it was widespread
floods. This year, wildfires flared during a record heatwave
that took the country beyond the Goldilocks zone (not too hot,
not too cold). Petrol stations closed down in some areas when
petrol began to vaporise in the searing heat. Temperatures were
so high that Australian meteorologists had to add more colour
bands to their forecasting maps. Australia’s bureau of
meteorology recorded the heatwave as “unprecedented in duration,
intensity and extent”. According to bureau manager David Jones,
“Everything that happens in the cl