Australia sees hottest spring on record

Australia has recorded its hottest spring on record, with the national average temperature over two degrees Celsius higher than the long-term average, local media reported on Tuesday.

According to new data from the Bureau of Meteorology, the national mean temperature between the start of September and the end of November was 2.08 degrees Celsius above the baseline 1961-1990 average, Australia's commercial news site reported.

It surpassed the previous spring temperature record of 2.03 degrees above the long-term average set in 2020.

The national mean temperature is measured by the bureau by evaluating the average temperature recorded at 112 weather stations across Australia. Records date back to 1910.

The bureau said that the spring of 2024 was at least one degree warmer on average than any spring in the 20th century.

All of Australia's states and territories recorded spring mean temperatures in the top 10 on record. Queensland was the only state or territory to record its hottest spring in 2024, with the mean temperature in the northeastern state 2.47 degrees above the baseline average.

The national spring rainfall was 28 percent above the 1961-1990 average. September and November were wetter than average while October was drier.

"Some stations, including several with more than 50 years of data, had their record highest total rainfall for spring," the bureau said.

The data was released as the bureau forecast a heatwave for much of the country in the first week of summer.

Temperatures surpassed 30 degrees across the populous east coast on Monday and, in parts of Western Australia, are forecast to exceed 40 degrees on Thursday.