Neil Hewett, who lives in the Daintree, posted on Orange-thighed Tree Frogs in October 2007. 
That blog post has gathered a couple of recent comments, including from Shane Panton near Coffs Harbour, NSW, claiming to have Orange-thighed frogs mating on his property …
https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/2007/10/orange-thighed-tree-frogs/
And start here with planning for your holiday in North Queensland… http://www.ccwild.com/
According to journalist Peter Sheehan writing in today’s Sydney Morning Herald:
“The rivers have been running brown. A lot of the lifeblood of this country has been gushing away in liquid mountains we don’t even see. A few sages warned that the worst thing that could happen to Australia after a decade of drought was sustained rain…
In the piece Mr Sheehan goes on to repeat many of the myths about Australian farming. What he doesn’t mention is that farming practices have significantly improved over recent decades. Indeed once upon a time sugarcane farmers in Queensland used to crop the hillsides and then burn the residue before harvest. Now they only farm the flats and mulch as they harvest through a process known as ‘green cane trash blanketing’.
And certainly the Fitzroy Catchment was not drought ravaged when the recent floods hit, which may explain why relative to past flood, Bill Burrows, in a recent post at this blog, described the current flood as relatively “clean”.
Read the piece by Peter Sheehan here:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/floods-steal-precious-topsoil–and-future-goes-down-drain-20110109-19jrq.html
But then also go to the trouble of getting some perspective by reading someone who does know about farming and Australia’s top soil, I am referring to David F. Smith, former Director-General of Agriculture for Victoria, and his article ‘Green Myths About Australian Farming’ first published at Quadrant Online here:
http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2009/4/green-myths-about-australian-farming
According to journalist Michael Steketee writing in The Australian the news is not promising and neither is the data: Climate change is a reality and we can blame the recent deluge in Queensland and rising temperatures on it.
Looking at the same data, particularly the rainfall data, I’ve come to a completely different conclusion.
Christopher Monckton has gone to the trouble of immediately writing a detailed response to Mr Steketee…
Read the article by Mr Steketee for an appreciation of what it is to be a true believer: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/global-weather-disasters-a-sign-the-heat-is-on/story-e6frg6zo-1225983256858
Read the complete response by Mr Monckton here, for some perspective:
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/originals/2010_warmest_on_record.pdf
[Read more…] about Global Weather Disasters: Christopher Monckton responds to Michael Steketee
A MULTIMILLIONAIRE internet entrepreneur worried about climate change bankrolled the Greens’ federal election surge last year by making the largest single political donation in Australian history. Read more here.
According to the annual climate statment from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology released on Wednesday, the Australian mean rainfall total for 2010 was 690 mm which is well above the long-term average of 465 mm. As a result, 2010 was Australia’s wettest year since 2000 and the third-wettest year on record (records commence in 1900).
The statement explains that 2010 began with El Niño conditions in the Pacific followed by a rapid transition into La Niña during autumn. From January to May rainfall was generally above average in most areas except the western half of Western Australia and southern Tasmania. By July, La Niña conditions were well established and most areas of Australia experienced very much above average rainfall. The second half of the year (July to December) was the wettest on record for Australia.”
The complete statement is here.
Now all the data is in for 2010 it is possible to construct timeseries graphs for the Murray Darling and Eastern Australia. The above graphs were constructed at the Bureau site here.
These charts suggest Australia could be entering a new wet cycle. Click on the individual charts for a better and larger view.
These charts show that that all the modelling by the CSIRO and others, and all the reports including by Ross Garnaut and Sir Nicolas Stern claiming declining rainfall, were wrong.
This really is good news.
Despite fearing more flood waters from Queensland into an already full system, South Australian premier says he can’t give his irrigators more water because of restrictive water-allocation cap.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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