Over the past two days, much of Eastern Australia has experienced some of the coldest days in recent history.
Temperatures in all major cities have plummeted to near-freezing levels, with apparent or ‘feels like’ temperatures plummeting even further.
The Wire’s contributor Jahan Rezakhanlou asked Stephanie Miles, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology about this cold winter.
Jahan Rezakhanlou: We are joined today by senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Stephanie Miles. Thank you for joining us, Stephanie.
Stephanie Miles: Thanks so much for having me, Jahan.
Jahan Rezakhanlou: And so what is the general explanation for this very cold winter?
Stephanie Miles: Well, at the moment it’s pretty much just cold from the seasonal winter at the moment. So we’re feeling perhaps it feels as cold as it does right now because our temperatures are getting the lowest that they have since last year. So other than the fact that it’s winter, we do have some really clear skies at the moment and some light winds which really help to keep those temperatures quite cold for us.
Jahan Rezakhanlou: Is there a trajectory of colder winters emerging?
Stephanie Miles: It’s a good question. Um, no. We don’t necessarily have a trajectory of colder winters. With climate change. We are expecting maybe things to be a little bit more, uh, extremes. However, if you look at our seasonal outlook at the moment, we are projecting, um, predicting that over the next three months or in the next over the next season, really, is that our maximum temperatures will be a little bit warmer than average, and even our minimum temperatures being a little bit warmer than average as well.
Jahan Rezakhanlou: And is there any specific reason for this?
Stephanie Miles: When we look at our seasonal outlooks, what we do is we look at a lot of different climate drivers. But at the moment there isn’t any strong climate driver that’s really driving these increase in temperatures. It’s kind of a lot of all of them interacting all at once.
Jahan Rezakhanlou: So there are many reports of people feeling it’s colder than the actual temperature. People are trying to work out. The feels like temperatures are posted by the meteorology. Could you explain this?
Stephanie Miles: Yeah. So when we say the feels-like temperature or sometimes it’s listed on our website and app as the apparent temperature, what we’re talking about is not just the actual temperature in terms of its numerical value, but also how it feels to the person. And a lot of it has got to do with the wind at the, um, the wind at the same time. So your body kind of acts, and especially when you’re wearing certain types of clothes, like when you’re wearing a wetsuit, if you can think about when you’re in the water and what it does is it creates this tiny little thin layer of water next to you when you’ve got the wetsuit on. Same thing goes when you’ve got, um, different clothing on. And even when you’re not, your body acts as it has this tiny little layer of warmth close to your body. So when the wind picks up. But what it does, it actually blows away that warmth from you, and you end up feeling a lot colder rather than able to keep that temperature close to you at all times.
Jahan Rezakhanlou: I suppose Australians are generally more used to dealing with hotter summers than very cold winters. Is there an issue of Australian homes and even people not being equipped for cold winters?
Stephanie Miles: That is a question that I do not know how to answer. But this morning on the radio they were talking to Doctor Carl and someone actually asked this exact question, and they were saying that the insulation of Australian houses, you can go from one being a tent and ten being the most insulated, best-built house. And I think on average, they said that our homes were rated as a 1.9. So really, really, really cold, not able to retain warmth, and not energy efficient at all. So I hope that I don’t think I can answer that question, but that’s what I’ve heard in the past.
Jahan Rezakhanlou: Are there any precautions that you think people should take with this cold or winter?
Stephanie Miles: No precautions in particular. I would just say to make sure that you’re dressing warm when you’re going outside. If our forecasts are cold and windy, then take extra clothing with you and, you know, try to stay indoors when you can, when it might be wet outside. Uh, the wet also helps with making us feel a lot colder than what it is, too. So bring your umbrellas, bring your warm clothes and just. Yeah, have a look at the forecast so you can adequately prepare for that.
Jahan Rezakhanlou: Great. Thank you very much, Stephanie.
Stephanie Miles: No worries. Thank you.