We studied this sudden \u201cweather whiplash\u201d, where a heatwave is followed by heavy rainfall, in more detail to understand which parts of Australia are affected, why this occurs and how this phenomenon is changing as the world warms. <\/p>\n
The results<\/a> were sobering. Not only are weather whiplashes a repeating feature of Australia\u2019s climate, but they are becoming more frequent and affecting larger areas of the country than a century ago. <\/p>\n A land of extremes<\/p>\n Australians know extreme weather, and many of us have experienced its repercussions firsthand. Heatwaves are a \u201csilent killer<\/a>\u201d, responsible for more deaths than all other natural hazards combined, while extreme rainfall can bring either cooling relief or destruction through flash flooding. Climate change is increasing their frequency<\/a>, and they do not always occur in isolation. <\/p>\n It\u2019s common to think of weather extremes as separate events: a heatwave is a heatwave, and a storm is a storm. But we found<\/a> heatwaves and heavy rainfall often come within days of each other, creating \u201cweather whiplashes\u201d. This means communities, landscapes, ecosystems<\/a> and infrastructure are already under stress when the next extreme weather event arrives. <\/p>\n Our new paper<\/a> identified hundreds of whiplash events where extreme rainfall immediately followed heatwaves, using Australian climate data starting in 1910. Of most interest were whiplashes that happened in the warm season, from October to April, because it\u2019s the time of year when you would expect to see swings from heat to extreme rain. <\/p>\n It showed south-eastern Australia is a whiplash hotspot, where cold fronts often replace heatwaves with heavy rain, affecting large areas at once. Southern Queensland recorded the highest number of whiplash events \u2013 being on the east coast leaves it vulnerable to heavy rain pushed inland by winds travelling across the sea. In the tropical north, thunderstorms flush out heat. <\/p>\n South-eastern Australia and southern Queensland are whiplash hotspots.<\/p>\n More frequent, and more widespread<\/p>\n Next, we wanted to understand whether these whiplash events had changed over the past 110 years. Many people feel as though the weather is becoming more rapidly changeable, but is this supported by the data? <\/p>\n Overall, yes. Weather whiplash events are more frequent and affect larger areas of the country than they did a century ago. More Australians are now exposed to whiplash weather. <\/p>\n We zoomed into big cities with big populations. The north of Australia, including Cairns and Darwin, has experienced the biggest increases, mainly driven by more frequent and intense<\/a> heatwaves, combined with a wetter<\/a> climate. And temperatures don\u2019t drop as much after heatwaves as they once did.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/file-20260617-57-28z9om.png\")
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