Puts where we are now in perspective. I found myself looking for paleoclimate data from Australia – failing to find any charts going back through the Tertiary. So I thought it worthwhile reminding ourselves of the long term global trends.
Climate change during the last 65 million years – thanks to Robert A. Rohde for the chart below.
There is also a chart going back to the Cambrian – the first common ocurrence of fossil life forms – 540million years – chart by Glen Fergus. Note the timescale on these charts varies greatly.
G’day Warwick. In case you hadn’t seen the latest scare, no, not the cyclone, but: www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-19/queensland-could-swelter-through-extreme-march-weather/6331616
Record heat, they say. Don’t worry, it’s just ‘their’ ABC.
An update, Birdsville hottest March today was 46.5 says ABC TV. Yet in 1887, it was above 46C for 2 weeks. trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/19922871?searchTerm=Birdsville%20hottest%20March&searchLimits=
OOps, that was January 1897, BoM only has temp records from 1954 for Birdsville, but rainfall goes back more than half a Century earlier. Why?