Frost Occurrence and Heat Stress Events in the South West Land Division — Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
  1. Schedule
  2. 36. The influence of a changing climate on high-impact severe weather in Australia
  3. Frost Occurrence and Heat Stress Events in the South West Land Division

Frost Occurrence and Heat Stress Events in the South West Land Division (#61)

Meredith M Guthrie 1 , Fiona Evans 2 , Anna Hepworth 1 , Ian Foster 1 , Ben Biddulph 1
  1. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, South Perth, WA, Australia
  2. Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia

The South West Land Division (SWLD) experienced a climate shift in the mid- 1970s, with a 20% overall decline in May to June rainfall. Since this time, along with a continuing rainfall decline, with a further climate shift in 2000, there has also been an increase in the number of extreme temperature events. We found that the number of frost occurrences (days below 2˚C) in August to October in the SWLD has declined and that the number of heat events (days over 30˚C) has increased with the changing climate. However, since 2000 frost and heat are now more widespread in the SWLD. The timing of these events corresponds to flowering and grain fill of cereals and oil-seeds and therefore is a significant impact on Western Australia’s $4.5 billion agricultural economy.

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