Baked Australia: Bushfires Blaze as New Report Pins Blame for Intense Heat Waves on Climate Change

Australia as seen by NASA's Terra satellite on Feb. 9, 2015. The black strips are areas of missing data. Note the plumes of smoke from bushfires in the far southwestern part of the country. (Source: NASA) A new report out earlier this week says climate change is making Australia hotter, with anomalously warm days occurring more often and heat waves becoming hotter, longer and more frequent. Perhaps the report should have been titled "Baked Australia" instead of "Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Extreme Heat in Australia." To be honest, at first I wasn't going to post anything about this. That's because the report, from Australia's Climate Council, doesn't seem to have much if anything that has not been published before. It's certainly useful as a synthesis of information. But then I grew concerned that its release was timed to stick a fork in the eye of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was about to undergo a political near-death experience. More about that in a minute. But first...