Al Gore blames the climate crisis; Barack Obama says Australia’s bushfires are the very real, very urgent consequences of climate change. Hillary Clinton declares we are in a climate emergency.
More than three months ago there were warnings of an unusually strong Indian Ocean Dipole, with warm water off Africa contributing to rain there and cold water off Western Australia leading to severe drought there. Strong winds and updrafts created conditions for hundreds of lightning strikes. Together with the build-up of fuel – five years ago, bushfire expert David Packham warned that forest fuel levels had climbed to their most dangerous in thousands of years – this led to Australia experiencing its worst fires in 100 years. The hellish conditions saw a fire tornado flip a fire truck, killing a volunteer firefighter.
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