Experts have issued a range of warnings in a new report on the state of the Australian climate.

The Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO have issued State of the Climate 2018, the last biennial review of the science informing our understanding of climate in Australia.

“The science underpinning this report will help inform a range of economic, environmental and social decision-making and local vulnerability assessments, by government, industry and communities,” BOM said in a statement.

The full report is accessible in PDF form, here.

The key points of the review include;

  • Australia's climate has warmed just over 1 °C since 1910 leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events
  • Oceans around Australia have warmed by around 1 °C since 1910, contributing to longer and more frequent marine heatwaves
  • Sea levels are rising around Australia, increasing the risk of inundation
  • The oceans around Australia are acidifying (the pH is decreasing)
  • April to October rainfall has decreased in the southwest of Australia. Across the same region May–July rainfall has seen the largest decrease, by around 20 per cent since 1970
  • There has been a decline of around 11 per cent in April–October rainfall in the southeast of Australia since the late 1990s
  • Rainfall has increased across parts of northern Australia since the 1970s
  • Streamflow has decreased across southern Australia. Streamflow has increased in northern Australia where rainfall has increased
  • There has been a long-term increase in extreme fire weather, and in the length of the fire season, across large parts of Australia

Detailed analysis is available here.