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As the world reeled under a record-breaking heat last month, Australia had the coldest April in nearly a decade.
Normally, Australia can be the hottest in the world as the summer peaks, but in April 2024 the country experienced abnormally cold weather even as globally the heat reached record high levels.
Across the country, the mean temperatures were 0.51C below the 1961–1990 average, which is the lowest since 2015, thanks to a high pressure that rose centered to the south of western Australia. As a result, the southerly winds carried cool air across the Australian continent, 9news.com.au reported.
Data released by Berkeley Earth, a non-profit environment group, revealed the global average air temperature last month was 0.11 degrees, which was above the 1850 to 1900 average. The April average temperature beat the previous record from 2020 by 0.14 degrees. The record-breaking global heat has continued uninterrupted since June 2023 and April became the 11th consecutive month to set a new average temperature record globally.
Early this year, Australia had experienced its second-warmest March for minimum temperatures, The Guardian reported. “What we had in April was a blocking high to the south of Australia, which directed cold southerly winds across a huge part of the country” Weatherzone meteorologist Yoska Hernandez said.
Though the high pressure dimmed last week, the cold weather could continue in May thanks to a new high pressure emerging off the Great Australian Bight. “Most of this week and most likely into next week, that high will remain over southern parts of Australia, so that will possibly make May cooler than average,” Hernandez said.
With an increased chance of a La Niña occurring later in the year, Australia could expect a cooler and wetter climate.
