IT was a weekend of extremes. Melbourne copped a month's worth of rain in just 17 hours, NSW grappled with "catastrophic" bushfire conditions and record November temperatures -- and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong linked the unpredictable weather patterns to the effects of global warming.
Sydney's average maximum temperature was a little more than 40C yesterday, making it the city's hottest November day in 27 years, while crews in Melbourne were still mopping up last night after a devastating storm lashed the Victorian capital.
"We've seen increased numbers of storms, we've seen much less rain, particularly in southeastern Australia we've seen hotter and drier temperatures and conditions," Senator Wong said yesterday.
"All of these are consistent with the trends that climate scientists are talking to us about and just underlined to us why Australia is so vulnerable to climate change."
Kevin Rudd linked the weekend's weather extremes to the ETS debate.
"Everyone in Australia thinking about this, this weekend, would work it out that we are among the hottest and driest continents on Earth," the Prime Minister said.
"We will feel the effects of climate change fastest and hardest, and therefore we must act this week, and the government will be doing everything possible to make sure that that can occur."
In Sydney yesterday, while some turned to the beach to cool down, not everyone was cool enough. Three-year-old Georgia Bradley was struggling and decided to cool off with a garden hose after her swim at Little Manly beach. "It's really, really, really hot today," the toddler said while splashing about with the hose.
The Bradley family, from Lane Cove in Sydney's north, make the trip to Little Manly almost every week in summer but said they "escape to New Zealand" during the hotter December period.
In Melbourne, about 53mm of rain fell between 6pm Saturday and 11am Sunday, taking the city's November rainfall total above the 57mm monthly average.
Weather bureau senior forecaster Peter Blake said only 6.6mm of rain had been recorded in Melbourne in the first 20 days of the month.
"It is incredible when last week it was so parched and everybody was complaining about the heat. Now it's very much the opposite," he said.
But he said more rain was needed before there would be any significant run-off and less rain fell around Melbourne's catchments, including the Thomson Dam.
Earlier this month, Adelaide had its longest spring heatwave since records began in 1887, with eight consecutive days of more than 35C.
On the other side of the globe, storms continued to lash Britain and Ireland yesterday, collapsing bridges and killing two people, including policeman Bill Barker. Constable Barker was directing motorists away from a bridge in Cumbria when it collapsed.