CLIMATE CHANGE : ‘Robbing Winter Of Its Terrors’

A fascinating historical account of a journalist’s study into a changing climate.

The author grapples with the notion that varying weather patterns, almost instinctively, solicit a pessimistic influence on a person, as “the writer has never yet met one who was an optimist”. Aware of superstitions hardwired into the human psyche, the author reassures that any record-defying weather prophecy can almost certainly be corrected through historical comparison.

However, armed with “figures to prove it”, the author discovers a distinct climate change occurring in temperature and rainfall that defies his ‘stable climate’ assumptions.

Does the author fall victim to his own climate superstitions? Or is there really man-made climate change at play, brought about by human settlement and the development of land for agriculture?

The author does however remain his own ‘optimist’, noting that whilst the summer months are getting warmer, “our winters are gradually being robbed of their terrors”. As well, the prospect of increased rains could mean, “millions in hard solid cash”, and with less burden on Government, “reduced taxation will follow.” !

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IS OUR CLIMATE CHANGING?

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Temperature Increasing; So is Rainfall

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ROBBING WINTER OF ITS TERRORS

12 May 1923

CONCERNING weather, it may be accepted as an axiom that there are conservatives and ultra-conservatives, and meteorologists, too. During an acquaintance extending over many years with the last-named gentry the writer has never yet met one who was an optimist. Enthuse as you will over popular literature dealing with the various cycles and other schemes under which it can be shown conclusively that there is no such thing as a problem where weather is concerned, the meteorologist will turn you down cold.

Even Mr. Bromley, amiable prophet though he be, is no exception to the rule. Go to him filled with hope after it has been raining hard for endless days and ask for sympathy and the verification of a new record established. You will not get it. He will refer to some bygone day when it rained .000934 points of an inch or more, or when the mercury was all out over the last fractional point of the scale.

A distinct change, however, in the Australian climate which even Mr. Bromley cannot refute has been discovered. There are figures to prove it, and those figures are supplied by Mr. Bromley’s department.

Interviewed this week one prominent Adelaide man said the public did not understand what rain meant to the State. It was not only a case of providing water — it was a case of millions in hard solid cash. If that be so, then one of the problems of the Federal Government has gone, and reduced taxation will follow as a natural course.

Two things have happened to the Australian climate — it is getting warmer and the average rainfall is increasing.

Influences at Work.

Just what has brought the change about it is hard to say, but no doubt there is a reason. Knibbs, in one of his early year books, places it on record that settlement and the treatment of land have a distinct effect on local conditions. Sydney, for example, showed a rise of two-tenths of a degree during the past twenty years, a change which he attributed to the great growth of residential and manufacturing buildings within the city and in the surrounding suburbs during that period. Again, the low-lying lands of the north coast of New South Wales, formerly free from frost, now have annual visitations. The theory is that with the cutting away of the trees the cold air, has an unimpeded flow to the low lands.

Irrigation also has its influence on climate. In “Seas and Skies” the Hon. Ralph Abercromby says, “Before the Suez Canal was made the desert through which it was cut was said to be rainless. Now, since the Bitter Lakes have been filled with water, rain falls on an average eight days in the year at Ismailia.”

Again, in “American Weather,” Gen. A. W. Grerly remarks on the subject of heat waves, “It seems possible that the frequency and intensity of such visitations have diminished on the Pacific Coast, since Tennant’s record of hot days (classing as such those on which the temperature rose to 80 degrees, or above, at San Francisco) indicates that their actual number has very materially diminished since 1839. For seven years prior to 1839 such days averaged thirteen yearly, and since that time up to 1871 the average number is but four. The immense quantity of land placed under irrigation and the vast increase in vegetation are obvious reasons why there should be some diminution in this respect.

Capital Cities Compared.

Whatever may have brought the change, the fact remains that the figures show it. A comparison of the mean summer temperatures of the capital cities reveals that it is now higher in each of them, the statistics being: —

Not only is it getting warmer during the summer months, but with the exception of Hobart, where it is a shade cooler, our winters are gradually being robbed of their terrors. Here are the figures showing the mean winter temperatures of the capital cities: —

An Increasing Rainfall.

The man on the street will, after reading this, jump to the conclusion that more heat means lees rain. But once again they show that this is not so. As a matter of fact, we are now getting more rain than we were previously. Again taking the capital cities, this is seen to be a fact in the case of all except Sydney, which shows a slight falling off. The figures are: —

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12 May 1923 – IS OUR CLIMATE CHANGING? Temperature Increasing;…

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AT the time of this ‘abrupt’, ‘unprecedented’ Climate Change, carbon dioxide pollution was at 320 parts per million.

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See also :

• Shock News 1923 : Meteorological Office Exists as a Corrective to Scare Mongering | CACA
• Climate Change Insanity Never Changes | Climatism
• Editorial : Sacrifice Is Needed To Control The Climate | Real Science
• 1801 : Thomas Jefferson Notes Dramatic Climate Change In Virginia | Real Science
• Thomas Jefferson Was The First Global Warming POTUS | Real Science

Australian Extreme Climate History :

• Terrible Week-Long Heat Wave : 41°C in the Shade and 71°C in the Sun | Climatism
• Heat Wave In Australia : Nearly 200 Deaths From Heat Apoplexy | Climatism
• 24 More Die In Record Heatwave – Melbourne 46°C | Climatism
• February 1889 : Another Exceptionally Severe Heat Wave | Climatism
• February 10, 1893 : Victorian Bushfires Raging A Few Miles From Melbourne | Climatism
• 163 Years Ago Today : Bushfires Burn 5 Million Hectares or A Quarter Of Victoria | Climatism
• 81 Years Ago Today : Severe Global Warming Strikes West Australia | Climatism
• January 1908 : Adelaide’s Temperature Rose Above 38°C Fourteen Times | Cliamtism
• Shock news : Australia has always had heatwaves | Climatism
• The Worst Scientific Scandal Of Our Generation | Climatism
• BOM – Australian Climate Extremes PAGE DELETED! SEE : OPEN Letter To The Bureau Of Meteorology : Climate Extremes – The “Federation Drought” 1895-1902 | Climatism