Climate Study For Queensland Projects 0.9 - 3.6C Warming, More Droughts, More Intense Typhoons

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Projected increases in annual temperature range from 0.9C in Cairns by 2030, to 3.6C in St George by 2070. Similarly, annual days above 35C in Brisbane will rise from one to six by 2030, in Cairns from 3.8 to 31 by 2070, and in St George from 52.7 to 116 by 2070.

While there remains uncertainty over future rainfall patterns, the report notes that thesevere droughts and heatwaves likely in western Queensland, around areas such as St George, "will potentially affect (the) region's productivity and social cohesion".

While the total number of cyclones may decrease, each cyclone is likely to be more intense, and hail will also be more frequent in the metropolitan southeast. Rising sea levels will inundate some Torres Strait Islands, while one-in-100-year floods would be more devastating in Cairns and on the Sunshine Coast. "An increase in cyclone intensity of 10 per cent by 2050 could increase the height of the storm surge by 0.3m," the report states.

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The IPCC report found between 59 and 81 per cent of corals on the Great Barrier Reef would be bleached annually by 2030, and that coral would be killed off each year by 2080. As for the Wet Tropics, 2020 would see a 50 per cent decline in mountain tropical rainforest.

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23918358-11949,00.html