English – The Conversation | Why the phrase “Super El Nino” makes Australian climate scientists roll their eyes by Kimberley Reid, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Melbourne

Raymond Petrik/Pexels, CC BY-NC-NDFrightening headlines predicting a Super El Niño or even a Godzilla El Niño amp up anxiety levels for farmers and residents of bushfire-prone regions.

But these phrases are not particularly accurate. The phrase “Super El Niño” makes climate scientists like me roll our eyes.

Why? Let’s find out.

What is El Niño?

Average spring temperature (L) and rainfall anomalies (R) during an El Niño.
Ruby Lieber, CC BY

Why call an El Niño ‘super’?

During the ‘strong’ 1997–98 El Niño (a), rainfall didn’t change much. But during the ‘weak’ 2002–03 El Niño (b), major rainfall deficits emerged.
Bureau of Meteorology and Climate Extremes, CC BY

Should we believe winter and spring forecasts?

Forecast from March 2026 of the Niño3.4 Index. Red lines indicate different model forecasts.
ECMWF, CC BY

How should we think of El Niño forecasts?

Read more: https://theconversation.com/why-the-phrase-super-el-nino-makes-australian-climate-scientists-roll-their-eyes-279758

#australian #elniño #pacificocean #bureauofmeteorology #climateextremes

wikinews | Wikinews interviews Bureau of Meteorology, Australia over the AU$96.5M website upgrade bill announced by new CEO

In November 2025 the new Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) chief, Dr Stuart Minchin, confirmed that the agency’s website rebuild had cost AU $96.5 million – far above the originally advertised AU $4.1 million front‑end upgrade cap. The figure was disclosed after Environment Minister Murray Watt asked the new CEO to “get on top of” the bill and provide a full explanation. BOM said the overhaul was needed because the old site no longer met modern accessibility, security and usability standards, and that a complete rebuild was the only way to ensure a reliable, safe platform for the millions of Australians who depend on it for weather information.

The project was delivered by a consortium of private consultants, with Accenture receiving AU $78 million (up from an initial AU $38 million award) and Deloitte taking AU $35 million (up from AU $11 million), plus an additional AU $12.6 million for launch and security testing. While the rebuild was originally approved by the former Turnbull Liberal government, it continued under the subsequent Morrison and Albanese administrations; National Party leaders David Littleproud and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce have publicly criticised the cost as excessive. BOM noted that the work also responded to a 2015 cyber‑attack that highlighted the need for a more resilient digital platform.

Since the new site went live on 22 October, BOM has rolled out several user‑driven improvements: radar and weather maps were reverted to an earlier, more intuitive layout; the default weather‑map view now shows rain reflectivity (dBZ); and fire‑behaviour index information was made more accessible on 7 November. The agency emphasised that the rebuild relies on widely adopted open‑source components and modern web standards to deliver better performance, accessibility and security, and that ongoing updates will continue to be guided by user feedback, research and business needs.

Read more: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_interviews_Bureau_of_Meteorology%2C_Australia_over_the_AU%2496.5M_website_upgrade_bill_announced_by_new_CEO

#wikinews #bureauofmeteorology #stuartminchin #murraywatt #accenture

#Australien erlebte den nassesten Sommer seit 2016-17 und zugleich den achtheißesten seit Beginn der Messungen.

Laut #BureauOfMeteorology lag der #Niederschlag 32 Prozent über dem Durchschnitt, in #Südaustralia im Februar sogar 356 Prozent. Auf extreme #Hitzewellen mit bis zu 50 Grad folgten #Starkregen #und Überschwemmungen.

Neun der zehn heißesten Sommer traten seit 2012 auf. Fachleute verweisen auf zunehmende #Wetterextreme im Zuge des #Klimawandel.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/03/australia-summer-extreme-weather-wettest-hottest-records

#climatechange

Woke at 5am this morning (just over half an hour ago) drenched in sweat.

It was a hot night again.

#BOM is promising me rain today but it’s been forecasting that all of this year for my area & it’s been wrong 100% of the time.

#weather #BureauOfMeteorology #auspol #VictorianHeatwave

The Australian Bureau of The Sky IS FALLING are doing their seemingly typical flooding of the app with Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, and the storm absolutely didn't eventuate in my little corner of the world.

BUT …

I did notice something!
Something missing!

For as long as I can remember, every Severe Warning has included:
1) "Avoid using the phone", and
2) phone numbers to call

Every time I've seen the phone warning, I've contacted the BOM and asked for clarification:
Is it just a leftover from when landlines were the only phoned?
Does it apply to mobile phones?

I never, ever received any response to any of my enquiries😢, but the current warning text has been updated, and the "Avoid using the phone" is gone!🎉

#BOM #BureauOfMeteorology #bureau

Originally budgeted for 4 million AUD (~2M EUR), Australia's new botched #BureauOfMeteorology site ballooned into 100M AUD (~50M EUR).

I'd love to hear the story behind what must be one of the most expensive #Drupal sites ever.

As do our Aussie tax paying downunderlings.

Update 1:
80% of the budget went to #Accenture. I am Jack's shocked face.

Update 2:
Most if was used to "secure their systems" following a cyber attack. So why is it counted towards the build cost?

https://www.smh.com.au/technology/premium-prices-for-a-downgrade-96-5-million-bom-website-savaged-20251126-p5niis.html

Fuck!

Even *I* could have could have come up with a shitty-but-less-shitty website for 90-odd million dollars, and I move heavy things for a living...

#BOM #BureauOfMeteorology

AUS$96 million dollars of our money spent on a #weather website that most find not as good as the previous one.

96 million dollars. For a website upgrade.

Someone got rich #defrauding the #Australian government. #auspol #BOM #BureauOfMeteorology