<
https://theconversation.com/torrential-rains-created-devastating-inland-seas-in-outback-queensland-soon-they-will-fill-kati-thanda-lake-eyre-253529>
"The small Queensland town of Eromanga bills itself as Australia’s town
furthest from the sea. But this week, an ocean of freshwater arrived.
Monsoon-like weather has hit the normally arid Channel Country of inland
Queensland. Some towns have had two years’ worth of rain in a couple of days.
These flat grazing lands now resemble an inland sea.
One New South Wales man is still missing and dozens of people have been
evacuated. Others are preparing to be cut off, potentially for weeks. And
graziers are reporting major livestock losses – more than 100,000 and climbing.
In some areas, the flooding is worse than 1974, the wettest year on record in
Australia.
Why so much rain? Tropical, water-laden air has been brought far inland from
the oceans to the north and east. This can happen under normal climate
variability. But our ocean temperatures are the highest on record, which
supercharges the water cycle.
In coming weeks, this huge volume of water will wend its way through the
channels perhaps 600 km to fill Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, the ephemeral lake which
appears in the northern reaches of South Australia. It’s likely this will be a
Lake Eyre for the ages.
In the first three months of the year, deadly record-breaking floods hit
northern Queensland before Cyclone Alfred tracked unusually far south and made
landfall in southeast Queensland, bringing widespread winds and rains and
leaving expensive repair bills. Now the rain has come inland."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
