Trust Me, I’m An Expert: Cyclone season approacheth, but this year there’s a twist

Trust Me, I'm An Expert

The Bureau of Meteorology's tropical cyclone outlook is out today. AAP Image/Bureau of Meteorology, Japan Meteorological Agency

Australia has just had its driest September on record, and the second driest month ever: the only drier month was April 1902.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s tropical cyclone outlook is out today. It’s predicting a weaker-than-normal tropical cyclone season this year but if one hits – and it’s likely one will – it’ll bring water to rain-starved soil that will soak it up and reduce the flooding risk.

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Read more: Lessons not learned: Darwin's paying the price after Cyclone Marcus

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Wes Mountain speaks to forecaster Andrew Watkins, who explains how the forecast works, why a cyclone could help some farms, and how to keep safe this cyclone season.

We’ve never gone through a tropical cyclone season without at least one hitting our coast, but Australia’s past may no longer be a reliable guide to our future.

In her book Sunburnt Country: the history and future of climate change in Australia, scientist Joelle Gergis maps Australia’s climate over thousands of years. While we’ve always been a land of extremes, rapid warming since 1950 is starting to alter our weather patterns.

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Read more: Australia's 2017 environment scorecard: like a broken record, high temperatures further stress our ecosystems

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Dr Gergis told Madeleine De Gabriele about creating the most comprehensive history of Australia’s climate ever, and why she still has hope for the future.

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