Australia battered by climate ‘whiplash’ as Climate Council warns of dangerous new era of extreme weather
A climate “whiplash effect” from one extreme to the other has been a hallmark of wild and dangerous weather this summer, according to a new report from the Climate Council.
The whiplash effect is characterized by flash flooding that washed cars into the sea along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, caught between a period of catastrophic fire warnings and then a second extreme heat crisis.
“Climate change is now behind the steering wheel of Australia’s temperatures,” said Climate Council meteorologist Andrew Watkins.
“In fact, 2025 started and ended in La Niña, which usually cools much of Australia, but it was our fourth warmest year on record and the third warmest on Earth. This tells us that the baseline has changed.”
The warmer baseline means more water evaporates skyward, bringing more extreme altitudes.
“As moisture in the atmosphere increases, storms produce more rain,” the assistant professor explains.
“Some towns in western Queensland recorded average annual rainfall in the first five weeks of 2026. A tropical low in February then led to flood watches across almost half the continent.”
“Inland regions, where temperatures exceeded 45°C for a week in January, were cut off a month later due to flood waters and swampy roads.”
The report, released Tuesday, also states that insurers will pay out an average of $4.5 billion annually from 2019 to 2024; This is more than double the average annual cost of the previous 30 years.
The Climate Council notes significant whiplash events across the country that have widely scorched and then flooded areas within weeks.
In the second week of January, firestorms sparked dry lightning that sparked more than 200 bushfires in Victoria, as the towns of Walpeup and Hopetoun reached new statewide record high temperatures of 48.9C on January 27; one-third of the state set new record January maximums that day.
Some residents along the River Wye in the Otways in the state’s southwest were evacuated amid warnings of catastrophic fire danger, and a week later record-breaking rains caused floodwaters to wash cars out to sea.
Parts of north-west NSW recorded their highest ever rainfall totals for February; This includes Tibooburra, which received 273 mm of rainfall, 10 times the February average.
NSW also saw six consecutive days of record temperatures of 45C recorded at Pooncarie and Ivanhoe in January.
A December heatwave caused massive fires near Gosford and Newcastle, destroying nearly 20 homes and killing 59-year-old firefighter John Lohan.
NSW Fire Commissioner Greg Mullins said once-in-a-generation fires were turning into once-in-a-decade disasters.
“The climate baseline has changed and this means bigger, more dangerous, destructive fires are burning faster and more frequently. Stronger winds mean devastating fires can occur even on cooler days, such as the fires that destroyed 19 homes in Tasmania.”
The state fire commissioner also sits on the Climate Council.
“We used to think of catastrophic fire conditions as once-in-a-generation events, now they come every decade.
“Victorian firefighters were called out to fight 200 fires in one day, resulting in the loss of 451 homes and more than 1,000 other buildings.
“We are seeing societies hit by one disaster after another, with little recovery time.”
Mr Mullins said insurance costs, as well as immediate damage, were unaffordable.
“These costs will continue to rise unless governments stop subsidizing coal, oil and gas pollution and accelerate the transition to clean energy.”
