ok...I am in the older age group...fwiw I grew up on a farm...so we learnt and experienced how to live in harmony with nature, water shortages, droughts, fires and all the different weather patterns... it was a large community...we all did our bit regarding looking after our land, maintaining the surrounding area to our farm, to reduce impact of bush fires...in those days if a resident did not or could not...tidy up or remove rubbish...either the council warned the resident, and then cleaned it up..or the neighbours would help out... it appears very different today...imo...
we had no major bushfires that affected the town.. there was a drought in about 1978, and I recall temperatures in the 40's in August one year, which was very unusual, we had snow in December another year.... there was a lot of rain in the year following the drought, and floods which sat on the ground for 4 months until December... I have been living in Melbourne for a long time now....love the milder temperatures compared to the country... have really noticed the cold and overcast days here in the past 2 years.... had the heater going almost daily until about one week ago...I find that very unusual...together with the high temps in February....so it seems to me....here in melb , the weather has become colder for longer right through the spring....and hotter for only a few days Feb to Mar.... the prolonged period of overcast days is also notable... I believe all the chemicals used today, must have a bad affect on our climate and environment...and to a large extent on our weather..... All countries,must come together as one to address the problem....I do not believe our govt has the answer, nor should we pay billions per annum to developing countries.... recently discussed the weather with other family members, we all agreed, the low but consistent rainfall in the central districts of Vic and NSW since july 09, was good, it looked like the drought was breaking, and possibly with the snow melting there may have been floods this December...we reminisced the weather appeared to follow an old pattern of over 30 years ago.... the recent drought of over 15 years duration, may have more to do with the govt's hell bent policy, of tying up state and national parks, with the huge water sucking eucalyptus trees, which stops the water flowing down the hills and mountains into the streams... coupled with the clearing of land on a massive scale...again that policy stops any natural dams, or creeks from holding the water... enough said...but there are many things that influence the weather.... and of course most of you will note...I have very little knowledge of science....just a humble inhabitant of this great....(no once great) land of ours...
