Record Heat Bakes #Australia - #GOP Climate Experts say..."Uh!"

Australia experiences its hottest two years on record

High temperatures, which are forecast to continue through winter, are a clear sign of climate change, report warns

 heguardian.com,

Press) – Australia has experienced its hottest two years on record and high temperatures are set to continue through winter in a clear sign of climate change, a report warns.
May 2012 to April 2014 was the hottest 24-month period ever recorded in Australia, but that is likely to be eclipsed by the two years between June 2012 and May 2014, according to the Climate Commission's latest report, Abnormal Autumn.

"We have just had an abnormally warm autumn, off the back of another very hot 'angry summer'," Professor Will Steffen of the Climate Council said.

"The past two-year period has delivered the hottest average temperature we have ever recorded in Australia.

"Climate change is here, it's happening, and Australians are already feeling its impact."

The average temperature across Australia in April was 1.11C above the long-term average, the report says, citing Bureau of Meteorology figures.

The average minimum temperature was 1.31C above normal.

Unseasonable temperatures in the autumn "warm wave" set records, with Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne setting benchmarks for the consecutive number of May days when the mercury reached 20C or higher.

In its report, the Climate Council says the abnormally warm weather in April and May "are part of a longer-term trend towards hotter conditions in the summer months and more warm spells in autumn and winter"


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Hottest Summer on Record!

No Bees = NO FOOD - More #Bugonomics

Bee crisis could cost billions in lost agricultural production across Australia, Senate inquiry hears

• POLITICAL EDITOR TORY SHEPHERD

(The Advertiser) – Feral bees have been all but wiped out in South Australia, putting the state’s agricultural industry at risk.

The state now depends on about 60 beekeepers for domestic bees to pollinate crops after the feral population was hit hard by the Bangor and Ngarkat bushfires, among others.

SA apiarist Leigh Duffield, who gave evidence to a Senate inquiry into the future of beekeeping, said bees in those areas were basically burnt out, and their feeding grounds destroyed.

“No bees, no food,” he said.

“About two-thirds of the food produced in Australia is dependent on pollination. For apples, pears, lucerne, almonds, it’s about 90 per cent.

“The whole community, the health of the whole community, is now very dependent on the wellbeing of about 60 commercial apiarists in Australia. We only generate $12 million from honey, but our add-on benefit is about half a billion.”

“As a consequence it is not possible to assess the level of threat posed to the beekeeping industry in Australia, but it would seem reasonable to project that should Varroa establish in Australia and reliance on managed pollination substantially increases, then CCD will become an increasingly important issue.”

Also A Global Problem 

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