Australia's harsh summer: fires, floods and heat ^{CEFR B2}

Australia endured a sustained and severe set of natural emergencies across the January–February summer, with heatwaves, widespread bushfires, storms, floods and coral bleaching all linked to the worsening climate crisis. These events disrupted communities, damaged ecosystems and increased demand on emergency services and insurance markets. The State of the Climate 2024 report connects warming to more frequent extreme heat, and it notes that 2023 was one of the largest bushfire seasons by area burned.

Large bushfires began in southeastern Australia in late December 2024 and were not contained until mid-January. Scientists travelled to the fire-damaged Grampians National Park to try to save the Grampians globe-pea, a critically endangered shrub that had been fruiting when fires swept its habitat. A second outbreak merged with the original fire about a fortnight later. Major new fires also burned in Little Desert National Park; Little Desert Nature Lodge facilities were destroyed and there were acute concerns for threatened fauna such as the Malleefowl.

Coral bleaching worsened in 2024, with the southern Great Barrier Reef showing unusually high bleaching, mortality and disease in areas that had been relatively pristine. Northern Australia experienced severe wet-season flooding from November to April, especially in Far North Queensland. The monsoon arrived in Darwin on 7 February 2025, the latest known arrival since records began (the previous record was 25 January 1973); before the monsoon communities endured extreme heat and humidity, and the rains later brought increased rainfall and some relief.

Other extremes included Category 5 Cyclone Zelia making landfall in mid-February in northwestern Australia and intense December heatwaves. Australia recorded its second-warmest year in 2024, 1.46°C above the long-term average, with a December peak of 47.2°C in Birdsville. Conservation reporting (Extinction Wrapped 2024) recorded 56 Australian species and ecological communities newly recognised as threatened or moving closer to extinction in 2024. Demographers estimate around 22,000 Australians move home each year after climate disasters, a burden that mostly hits poorer households; about 15 percent of households face home insurance affordability stress and average home insurance premiums rose 14 percent between 2022 and 2023. Disasters continued into the final week of summer, with more wild weather, potential cyclones and an extended bushfire season in some regions.

• Damaged ecosystems and threatened species
• Homes and services under strain
• Rising insurance costs and financial stress
• Ongoing risk of more extreme events