La Niña is an important cause of rainfall variability over Australia and some climate models are indicating that La Niña may continue for a third year through spring and summer 2022-23, increasing the chances of more rain and flooding.
Experts from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes have looked at Multi-year La Niña events for our latest Briefing Note. Associate Professor Andrea Taschetto and Dr Zoe Gillett explain how La Niña causes rainfall variability, promoting the heavy rainfall and flooding experienced across eastern Australia in 2021 and 2022 and the possibility of La Niña persisting for a third year in a row. You can read the full briefing note on our website here And a PDF version is available here
Summary of Key Points:
- La Niña is an important cause of rainfall variability over Australia
- La Niña promotes increased winter-spring rainfall in eastern Australia and increased late summer-autumn rainfall along the east coast, often resulting in widespread flooding
- La Niña contributed to the recent heavy rainfall and widespread flooding across New South Wales and Queensland in 2021 and 2022
- About half of La Niña events occur in two consecutive years, which could increase the risk of flooding in the second year due to saturated catchments
- Some climate models are indicating that La Niña may continue for a third year through spring and summer 2022-23, increasing the chances of more rain and flooding
For any comments or questions regarding this briefing note, please contact
Dr Zoe Gillett at zoe.gillett@unsw.edu.au. We would love to hear any feedback from you.
Thank you,
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes
Climate Alliance Secretariat
Administered by UNSW Sydney
International Universities Climate Alliance
universitiesforclimate@unsw.edu.au
The International Universities Climate Alliance brings together world-class climate research universities, united in their dedication to help communities capacity build and accelerate climate transition at a global scale.