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Ben Domensino, 23 Mar 2018, 4:30 AM UTC

World Meteorological Day: Weather Ready, Climate Smart

World Meteorological Day: Weather Ready, Climate Smart
Today is World Meteorological Day, a tongue-twister that is celebrated annually on March 23rd. This year's theme 'weather ready, climate smart' was chosen by the World Meteorological Organization (oh, come on!) to highlight the importance of daily weather forecasts and long-term climate predictions in our society, both now and into the future. Our planet's rapidly growing population faces a range of challenges relating to extreme weather and long-term climate change. Increasing attention is being given to climate attribution studies that aim to determine which weather events are being influenced by our changing climate - because not every one of them is. 'Weather ready, climate smart’'s a fitting theme for Australia, given the amount of extreme weather we experience across this vast country each year. For example, there are about 11 or 12 tropical cyclones in Australian waters per season, with two spinning over our waters right now. While there is a fair amount of uncertainty regarding how future climate change will affect tropical cyclones, there is growing consensus that the overall number of cyclones will decline as global temperature rises, although there will be a greater proportion of higher intensity cyclones. Heatwaves are Australia's most deadly weather extreme, killing more people than any other natural hazard in the country during the last two centuries. Research suggest that extreme heat events in Australia are going to occur more often and with greater intensity in the future. Fortunately, new technology and research is helping us be weather ready and climate smart as we move forward and face the extreme weather events of the future.
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