The coldest and wettest year in Australia over the past decade has been 2021, after La Nina created wet and cold conditions in the country.
The Australian Institute of Meteorology (BoM) has summarized information on temperatures, precipitation and important weather phenomena for calendar year 2021. Accordingly, there was no lack of rainfall or drought during the year in any of the major regions of the country.
In Australia, the average temperature in 2021 was 0.56°C higher than the average for the reference period 1961-1990. This was the 19th warmest year since the start of national records in 1910, but the coldest since 2012.
The year 2021 was actually about 0.4°C cooler than the average temperature recorded between 2011 and 2020. 2021 was much cooler than the last decade” said Simon Grainger, a climate scientist at BoM.
“After three years of drought from 2017 to 2019, above average rainfall last year replenished our water supply, but also caused significant flooding in eastern Australia, particularly in March, November and December,” the specialist added.
This phenomenon is primarily due to temperature fluctuations known as the Indian Ocean Dipolar (IOD) and La Nina, Grainger said.
(MTI/Xinhua)