Eastern Australia Experiences Hottest May Ever Recorded - AFP

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Eastern Australia experienced its hottest May on record, the weather bureau said Monday, fuelling fears of the impact of global warming on the world's driest inhabited continent.

The southern hemisphere autumn through March, April and May was characterised by consistently high temperatures, a spokesman for the bureau told national radio.

The four eastern states including New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, recorded temperatures between two and two-and-a-half degrees Celsius above average in May.

Weather bureau climatologist Blair Trewin said the records were consistent with a general warming trend and the end of an El Nino weather pattern. "It would be theoretically possible to get these sorts of events without a long-term warming trend and without an El Nino, but it would be much less likely," he said.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/070604093327.urn59nlm.html