Fires to the south, floods to the north

Reading on-line and newspaper reports and then turning on the TV news here, you’d think Australia is a hell of a place to live.  And for many today, it surely must be.

To our south, wild fires are raging in three states after a record-breaking heat wave of more than a week.  To our north, floods “of Biblical proportions” won’t let up as the rainy season to beat all rainy seasons continues in the tropics.

This morning, we hear that 26 are known to be dead because of wildfires in three states and that at least one town, Marysville north of Melbourne, has been virtually burned out.  A telephone report from a resident sheltering in a fire station said another town’s central area (Kinglake) and his own home were in flames.

Making this disaster even worse, authorities believe that many of these wildfires were deliberately set and that firebugs are re-setting some of them.

Fortunately, it’s almost a 1000 miles from here to Adelaide, where some of the most intense urban heat has been and about 850 miles from here to Melbourne, which was scheduled to have its hottest February day ever yesterday, well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  A cool front has moved through, thankfully, and today’s highs in the region should be in the 70s F, similar to Brisbane’s “top.”

About 750 miles north of us, in Ingham, more rain fell last night and waters rose again to near the heights they’d reached a couple of days ago.  The place, like others, has been cut off and flooded for a week.

Our hearts go out to people in both regions, although we are almost envious of the flood area folks.  Having many reservoirs at less than half capacity and knowing farmers around here are hurting from lack of rain, southeast and southwest Queenslanders would be happy to take a part of what’s causing so much trouble for northeast Queensland.

But not all of it.  Some tropical places up north have had rain every day since January 1.  Some claim totals for this still-new year of nearly 1,000 millimeters or close to 40 inches.

In other areas in the tropics, inland from the coastlines, there is mostly joy with pastures flooded after years of hardly any rain and recently dry reservoirs now full to over-flowing.

Three more low-pressure systems are competing to dominate the coming week’s weather patterns.  May they take an unnatural course to our area and then head southwest to cool the embers.

So, everybody who thinks global warming is a myth, raise your hands.