Abstract
Wind records at Brisbane indicate past changes in ambient weather systems that appear to be confirmed by observed changes in Australian rainfalls. Both wind and rainfall data support geological field evidence of a climatic change in southeast Queensland in the 1930s.
At Brisbane the numbers of calms observed in January and July declined from 1887 to 1935, and then increased again. This variation was associated with changes in wind patterns, particularly in winter (July) from 1933 to 1937 and afterwards, but also in summer (January) during the 1930s. The changes in circulation were enough to explain the movement of beach and dune sands at that time.
The changes in windiness show a close connection with the 80-year trend in sunspot number: the initial period of below average sunspot number coincided with increasing wind strength and more southeasterly winds. Rainfall trends show similar associations with sunspot trends, but the direction of rainfall change is different in different regions. In southeast Australia changes in rainfall are positively correlated with trends in sunspot number over the last 80 years, while the opposite holds for the far southwest and Cape York Peninsula. On the north coast negative correlations occur in summer, and positive correlations in winter, but in Queensland and western New South Wales the correlations are positive in summer and negative in winter. It is too soon to tell whether the connection between sunspots and weather is accidental or functional.
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Ward, W.T., Russell, J.S. Winds in southeast Queensland and rain in Australia and their possible long-term relationship with sunspot number. Climatic Change 3, 89–104 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02423170
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02423170