The Whiplash, Specifically

Eastern Australia moved from the worst drought in living memory in 2019 to some of the worst flooding on record in 2022, in the same river catchments, within three years of each other. That's not a coincidence of unrelated weather events — it's what climate scientists describe as increased volatility, where a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and swings harder between extremes in both directions.

Why This Is Harder to Message Than Heat

"It's getting hotter" is a simple, linear story. "It's getting more unpredictable in both directions at once" is a much harder one to put on a placard, which is part of why this particular consequence of climate change gets less political attention than heatwaves and bushfires, despite arguably being just as disruptive to farming communities and regional infrastructure.

THE CLIMATE ISN'T JUST GETTING HOTTER. IT'S GETTING LESS PREDICTABLE, WHICH IS HARDER TO PLAN AROUND AND EASIER TO IGNORE.

Who Actually Carries This

Farmers, regional communities and anyone whose livelihood depends on a predictable season carry the practical weight of this volatility long before it becomes a national headline. Insurance premiums, crop failures and rebuilding costs land locally and specifically, well ahead of any policy response.

More in the Burnt series: The Black Summer Bushfires: A Timeline · Why Australia Keeps Getting Hotter · Coal, Politics and the Great Australian Contradiction · The Insurance Crisis · What Burnt Actually Means

Related: Burnt graphic tees · The Bush graphic tees