I am writing this as an observer without any scientific qualifications to back up the content of the post--- but I would like to hear what others think on this.
Yesterday a huge dust storm made its way across SE Australia from the inland over Broken Hill and on through NSW to Sydney, and up though Queensland and possibly will reach New Guinea. The dust is spotting the snow on the ski-fields in New Zealand to-day. Whilst such dust storms are not rare, the size of this one, and its appearance at the start of Spring is very unusual. There was another huge dust storm in Victoria in the 80s, also after a drought, but that was in the middle of summer after very hot weather.
My point is-- the reason for this storm was that there is a 10 year drought in the heart of Australia, and unusually high temperatures too. The dry topsoil from the heart has been blown hundreds of miles to the coast and to the far north. This is very unusual. Indeed this storm was stated to be the biggest ever.
So, is it a sign of climate change, or merely an aberration of weather? Can we continue to deny Climate Change is happening, as many do in this country, or should we now start to find out if there is a genuine need to take these and other events as examples of what is to come if we don't do something to at least try to find some solutions?
