Droughts are one of the many extreme weather events that are increasing in strength and frequency throughout the globe. Australia is a nation that is particularly vulnerable to extreme dry weather and has been plagued by drought events over the past 100 years.
The frequency and severity of Australian droughts has increased significantly over the past century. Extreme drought events have been recorded in 1965, 1982, 1994, and 2002. The most recent drought took place in the Australian summer of 2002 in which the average rainfall per month was a staggering low of 18.3 mm with a maximum temperature of 2.140C warmer than average. The excess heat exaggerated the drought effects by increasing potential evapotranspiration to 152 mm per month. This extreme weather event caused approximately $8 billion in agricultural loss and desertified a massive geographic region in southeastern Australia. This disaster was preceded by a major drought in 1994 and others before it where similar but not as severe conditions were observed. Therefore, these hot, dry weather patterns are demonstrating trends in time and strength and Australia is most likely to experience greater drought events in the mere future
It may come as a surprise to an average person, but based on data and observations, these drought events are induced by the weather phenomenon called El Nino which in Spanish means boy child. These extreme dry patterns have been linked to El Nino effects that take place in the eastern Pacific near the Peruvian Coast. An El Nino event is triggered once every several years and begins when the regulatory pressure patterns that are observed in the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Indonesia change. El Nino events over the past 50 years have increased in effect and frequency possibly due to global warming. This leaves one question that is highly debated; can global warming be a significant factor in the increase of Australian droughts.
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