The weather bureau, the energy market operator, farmers and state emergency services bosses will huddle next month to make a call on whether an El Niño summer – with its heightened risk of heatwaves, bushfires, droughts and blackouts – really threatens and if so, what to do about it.
The Bureau of Meteorology puts the chances of an El Niño this year at about 70 per cent, equivalent to its “alert” warning – the penultimate level before confirmation on the bureau’s scale of four, says Karl Braganza, manager of climate services.
Loading...
Ben Potter writes on energy, climate change and innovation, and has been Washington correspondent, opinion editor and companies editor. Connect with Ben on Twitter. Email Ben at bpotter@afr.com
