Australia Experiencing Warmest Spring Ever Recorded

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AUSTRALIA has sweltered through its hottest spring on record and 2006 is set to be the sixth warmest year on record world wide. The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has released its annual statement on global climate, which found the mean surface temperature was 0.42 degrees celsius above the annual average.

While the final figures will not be released until March next year, Dr Michael Coughlan from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said this year was only slightly behind the hottest years on record - 2005 and 1998.

"It still puts us in the top ten and still the message is one of continuing that general warmer than average trend we've seen over the past couple of decades," he said.

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Dr Coughlan said the volatility of weather had also been "quite amazing" this year. "We were having snow falling on bushfires," he said. "We saw at the same time that parts of central Australia were recording their warmest spring on record, parts of southern Tasmania were shivering in very, very cold temperatures.

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http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,20931491-948,00.html