{"id":544231,"date":"2026-03-16T14:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544231\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T14:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:52:08","slug":"new-report-aussies-flung-from-summer-fires-to-floods-in-breakneck-climate-whiplash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544231\/","title":{"rendered":"New report: Aussies flung from summer fires to floods in breakneck climate whiplash"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new Climate Council report<\/a> finds record global levels of coal, oil and gas pollution is overtaking natural climate drivers like El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a \u2013 accelerating the \u201cclimate whiplash\u201d phenomenon that flings communities rapidly from one disaster to the next.<\/p>\n

The report Breakneck Speed: Summer of Climate Whiplash<\/a> warns that even a cooling La Ni\u00f1a couldn\u2019t prevent record heat and catastrophic fires across Australia this past summer.<\/p>\n

Key Climate Whiplash Events (Dec 2025 \u2013 Feb 2026)<\/p>\n

Victoria \u2013 A week after catastrophic fire weather warnings, communities along the Great Ocean Road saw cars washed out to sea in flash floods, before extreme heat returned 10 days later.<\/p>\n

Western Australia \u2013 the Eyre Highway \u2013 Perth\u2019s supply route to eastern states \u2013 closed due to fires in 45\u00b0C heat, only to be cut off again two days later by floodwaters.<\/p>\n

South Australia \u2013 Marree, near Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, recorded five consecutive days above 48\u00b0C, including a new record high of 49.8\u00b0C in January. Just over a week later, a two-day rain event dumped 10 times the town\u2019s normal February monthly rainfall, followed a fortnight later by eight consecutive days of rain that cut all roads into the town.<\/p>\n

Northern Territory \u2013 Alice Springs recorded more than 30 summer days above 40\u00b0C\u00a0 (almost twice its average of 17), before intense rainfall triggered dangerous flash flooding on February 12.<\/p>\n

Tasmania \u2013 Strong winds fanned almost 30 bushfires on December 4, destroying 19 homes on the east coast, with Hobart recording its windiest summer day (98kmh)<\/a>. Three weeks later, daily snow fell between December 23 and 26.<\/p>\n

Climate Councillor, meteorologist and climate expert, Adjunct Professor Andrew Watkins said: \u201cClimate change is now firmly behind the steering wheel of Australia\u2019s temperatures. In fact 2025 started and ended in La Ni\u00f1a \u2013 which usually cools large parts of Australia \u2013 yet this was our fourth hottest year, and the globe\u2019s third hottest year, on record. That tells us the baseline has shifted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hotter oceans and atmosphere also mean more water evaporates into the sky than ever before. With more moisture in the atmosphere, storms produce more rain. Some towns in western Queensland recorded their average annual rainfall within the first five weeks of 2026. Then a tropical low in February resulted in flood watches across nearly half the continent. Inland areas that had sweltered through a week of temperatures over 45\u00b0C in January were then cut off by floodwaters and quagmire roads a month later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Climate Councillor and former NSW fire commissioner Greg Mullins said: \u201cWe used to think of catastrophic fire conditions as once-in-a-generation events. Now they\u2019re arriving every decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate baseline has shifted, and that means bigger, more dangerous, destructive fires flaring up more quickly, more often. Stronger winds mean destructive fires can happen even on cooler days, like those in Tasmania which destroyed 19 homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAccelerating extremes are stretching fire services, with Victorian firefighters called on to battle 200 fires in one day, ultimately resulting in the loss of 451 homes and more than 1,000 other buildings. We\u2019re seeing communities hit by one disaster after the next, with little recovery time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Mullins said Australians cannot afford any more coal and gas approvals, which effectively pour fuel on worsening fire seasons: \u201cDisasters are costing Australians dearly. This report found insurance companies paid out $4.5 billion per year on average between 2019 and 2024, more than double the average annual costs over the previous 30 years. These costs will continue to balloon unless governments stop supporting coal, oil and gas pollution and speed up the shift to clean energy.\u201c<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

For interviews please contact the Climate Council media team on media@climatecouncil.org.au<\/a> or call 0485 863 063.<\/p>\n

Or Jacqui Street on 0498 88 528 \/ jacqui.street@climatecouncil.org.au<\/a><\/p>\n

The Climate Council is an independent, community-funded organisation. We provide evidence-based information on climate change impacts and solutions to journalists, policymakers, and the wider Australian community.<\/p>\n

For further information, go to: climatecouncil.org.au<\/a><\/p>\n

Or follow us on social media: LinkedIn<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Threads<\/a><\/p>\n

More Alarming Heat Trends:<\/p>\n

Communities sweltered through multiple days over 45\u00b0C this summer in South Australia, New South Wales, and southern Queensland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Melbourne\u2019s top temperature was 42.9\u00b0C. This city has experienced 11 days of at least 42.9\u00b0C since 2000 \u2013 the same number of such days it recorded across the entire previous century (1900-1999).<\/p>\n

The outskirts of Port Augusta, SA became the most southern place on earth to reach 50\u2103 on January 30.<\/p>\n

On January 27, 2026 Walpeup and Hopetoun recorded a new Victorian record of 48.9\u00b0C \u2013 surpassing the previous record set at Hopetoun on Black Saturday, 2009. Almost one third of Victoria recorded its highest January temperature on record on 27 January 2026.<\/p>\n

Mildura in Victoria only reached 45\u00b0C six times between 1946 and 1999 (54 years). Since 2000, the town has sweltered through 45\u00b0C a further 27 times (26 years).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new Climate Council report finds record global levels of coal, oil and gas pollution is overtaking natural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-544231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}