Australia has endured another “angry summer” with more than 150 temperature records smashed, according to a new report.
Among the records broken, Perth had its hottest night ever at 29.7 C, Adelaide recorded its warmest February day (44.7 C) while Sydney went through its driest summer in 27 years, the independent Climate Council watchdog said.
It follows Australia experiencing its hottest year on record in 2013, according to official figures.
“Australia experienced another angry summer,” said council scientist Tim Flannery.
“We had substantial heat records, heatwaves and other extreme weather events.”
Australia’s southeast bore the brunt with prolonged heatwaves in Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra while parts of the states of South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria were ravaged by bushfires.
Elsewhere, drought conditions blighted inland parts of the country’s east with Queensland in the grip of its most widespread drought ever, while areas in the north and west experienced above average rainfall.
The latest report follows a joint study last week by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Bureau of Meteorology that said temperatures across Australia are, on average, almost 1.0 degree Celsius warmer than a century ago.
It said seven of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1998 while over the past 15 years the frequency of very hot months has increased five-fold.
