‘23 year low': Freak climate event spells catastrophe
It has stopped snowing in the Himalayas.
As a result, the water supply two billion people is under threat.
The mountain range reaches 2500km from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east.
Its high peaks and valleys are covered in ice – or should be.
The annual cycle of melting snow feeds 12 major river basins that wind their way across the Central and East Asian landscape.
These are the major water sources for a dozen nations But measurements have revealed a steady decline in snow falling across the Himalayas in recent decades.
This season, it tumbled to an overall 23-year low.
'This is an alarming trend,' says International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) scientist Sher Muhammad.
'We are observing such deficit situations occurring in continuous succession.'
Some rivers are suffering more than others.
The HKH Snow Update 2025 report reveals snow catchments for the Mekong and Salwen Rivers that feed into Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia are worse than 50 per cent lower than average.
China's Yangtze catchment has 26 per cent less snow. The Ganges River of India and Bangladesh is down 24 per cent.
As is the Indus that feeds Kashmir and Pakistan.
The reduced snowfalls would not be a problem if it were a one-off event, but the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) says this has happened in five out of the past six years.
It's an acceleration of a trend observed over the past quarter century and the implications of this trend are enormous.
'Australian policymakers are vastly underestimating how climate change will disrupt national security and regional stability across the Indo-Pacific,' warns Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) analyst Mike Copage.
Drying Up
Less snow in the Himalayas means less spring melt and less insulation for any ice or glaciers beneath.
Less spring melt means less water flow and that, in turn, means less soak to refill groundwater basins.
Snow isn't the only source of water for the major Himalayan rivers. While every river differs, snow, on average, contributes to about a quarter of all annual water runoff.
But researchers say there is no doubt that ongoing snow deficits are contributing to changing flow patterns and falling water levels.
'(This means) early-summer water stress, especially for downstream communities, already reeling under premature and intensifying heat spells across the region,' ICIMOD says.
China's Yellow River Basin is a case in point.
Its snow persistence (how long snow remains on the ground) fell from 98 per cent above average in 2008 to -54 per cent in 2023.
'The basin continues facing deficits (albeit at -18.6% in 2025),' the report states.
'Such sustained deficits strain agriculture, hydropower, and water availability.'
It's a similar story for China's Yangtze Basin.
This year's snowfall vanished 26 per cent faster than average.
'Steadily declining snowpack jeopardises hydropower efficiency of the Three Gorges dam,' the report warns.
It's a similar story for all Himalayan-fed hydropower projects and agricultural regions.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is urging Asian nations to take immediate action.
And spending billions on improved water management systems, stronger drought preparedness, better early warning systems, and greater regional co-operation is just the first step.
'Carbon emissions have already locked in an irreversible course of recurrent snow anomalies in the (Himalayas),' warns ICIMOD Director General Pema Gyamtsho.
'We urgently need to embrace a paradigm shift toward science-based, forward-looking policies and foster renewed regional co-operation for transboundary water management and emissions mitigation.'
But the experience isn't unique to Asia.
The Aral Sea between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan has shrunk to a fraction of its original size in recent decades.
Russia's Caspian Sea – the world's largest lake – is in rapid retreat and Lake Chad in central-west Africa has evaporated by up to 90 per cent.'
Worse to Come
The vast Himalayan snow and rainfall catchments are subject to various climate influences.
Previously, more predictable weather patterns offer little hope of improvement in Southeast Asia's water supplies.
This year's La Niña weather pattern vanished after just a few months.
This is the cold phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation cycle, a long-observed natural temperature exchange across the Pacific Ocean.
A warm El Niño generally switches to a cold La Niña every two to seven years.
La Niña was due to replace the last El Niño in mid-2024. It didn't arrive until December.
Now, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports it evaporated in March.
'After just a few months of La Niña conditions, the tropical Pacific is now ENSO-neutral, and forecasters expect neutral to continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer (Australian winter),' says University of Miami researcher Emily Becker.
Historically, La Niña is associated with increased rainfall in Southeast Asia and Indo-China.
An ENSO neutral phase generally brings much less predictable weather, NOAA warns.
'El Niño events can include drought and extreme heat, while La Niña events can include extreme rainfall and severe flooding,' a Perth USAsia Centre report states.
'It is predicted that even 1.5C of global warming will double the frequency of extreme El Niño events and magnify the rainfall variability of the El Niño – La Niña weather cycle.'
Asia is suffering the most from global climate change, observes the UN's World Meteorological Organisation.
Successive droughts have produced a particularly high number of damaging heatwaves.
These have been topped off by destructive storms and flood and it's turning into a relentless trend.
The Asian Development Bank has predicted that rice yields from Indonesia to Vietnam will fall 50 per cent by 2100 without urgent and expensive climate adaptation measures.
'While the physical impacts of climate change are already intensifying, the most concerning outcomes globally will arise from social, economic and political disruptions which are far more difficult to predict or manage than isolated disaster events,' warns ASPI's Copage.
'Given an already unstable global context of rising geopolitical tensions, climate impacts will only magnify this volatility.'
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How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine
How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine, if Australians' recent experience of more extreme weather and natural disasters - driven by a hotter climate - are an indication, because the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future. Civil engineer Alan Hoban says flood maps around Australia drastically underestimate the impact climate change will have on rainfall due to conservative assumptions about how fast rainfall intensity will increase. "Very few flood maps in south-east Queensland, or even Australia, yet account for these changes," he says. Extreme floods and rain events are often oddly described as a "one-in-a-hundred-year" or a "one-in-five hundred-year" event, suggesting they are unlikely to recur. But then they happen again, within a few years. This shows the assessments of future climate risks are too conservative, and so vulnerable communities and governments are under-prepared. Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires were of an intensity not projected to occur till towards the end of the century. And some heat extremes of the early 2020s were at a level projected for the 2030s. It's a problem created in part by over-reliance on the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which have a track record of being too conservative. The Australian government is late in delivering its first domestically-focused National Climate Risk Assessment, which was due in December, and should be the basis for emergency management, resilience and climate adaptation planning. Will it be up to date, and will it give attention to the plausible worst-case (extreme) possibilities, because they result in the greatest damage to people and property? There is reason to worry that the physical reality of accelerating climate disruption will mug Australia's risk assessment and leave us poorly prepared. One foundation for understanding future climate impacts is how quickly temperatures will rise. And that is now a big issue, because the government's assumption was that warming would be in the range of 1.5 to 2 degrees by 2050. And it is still the basis of most international climate policy formulation. Now it is way out of date. Just seven years ago, IPCC scientists projected global average warming of 1.5 degrees would not occur till 2040. But that warming level has now been reached, 15 years earlier than forecast. Both 2023 and 2024 reached 1.5 degrees, and the running average for the last 24 months has been close to 1.6 degrees. For all practical purposes, the warming trend has reached 1.5 degeres. A new World Meteorological Organization report says that Earth will cross this point in just two years, with a "70 per cent chance that the 2025-29 five-year mean will exceed 1.5 degrees above the 1850-1900 average". Acknowledging that a level of warming not expected till 2040 is here right now in 2025 means facing the bitter reality that 15 years have just been "lost" from the emissions-reduction timetable. What does that practically mean? At the 2015 Paris climate policymaking conference, the goal of holding warming to 1.5-2 degrees was agreed to, together with actions (in theory) to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, based on the now-superseded warming projections. So the "lost" 15 years means that this net-zero-by-2050 goal now needs to be net-zero-by-2035. Most policymakers, including the Australian government, seem not to have recognised this. When the penny drops in Canberra that we are already at 1.5 degrees, will that realisation be reflected in the National Climate Risk Assessment? Australia's climate modelling capacity has been degraded. The biggest problems are lack of independent and expert scientific advice, and the lack of coordination across departments and agencies, and a culture of empire-building. Restoring a climate science advisory group to provide high-level, independent advice to the Australian government is a key task. Scientists have been shocked at the pace of change. The rate of warming has accelerated from less than 0.2 dgrees per decade to 0.3 degrees or more per decade. And tipping points are occurring now, including at both poles. Permafrost, boreal forests and the Amazon are becoming net carbon emitters. This year, new research has reaffirmed that 1.5 degrees is too high to prevent tipping points: there is a significant risk of large Amazon forest dieback if global warming overshoots 1.5 degrees, yet we are there right now. And there is a new scientific warning that "1.5 degrees is too high for polar ice sheets". The evidence grows that the 1.5 degrees target was never a safe target for humanity. All of this leads to one conclusion: we are on the edge of a precipice and humanity now needs to throw everything at the climate threat, literally "all hands on deck". The late professor Will Steffen's call to make climate the primary target of policy and economics is now a survival imperative. The business-as-usual delusion embraced by policymakers that climate is just another issue is laid bare by the 1.5 degrees time-bomb. How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine, if Australians' recent experience of more extreme weather and natural disasters - driven by a hotter climate - are an indication, because the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future. Civil engineer Alan Hoban says flood maps around Australia drastically underestimate the impact climate change will have on rainfall due to conservative assumptions about how fast rainfall intensity will increase. "Very few flood maps in south-east Queensland, or even Australia, yet account for these changes," he says. Extreme floods and rain events are often oddly described as a "one-in-a-hundred-year" or a "one-in-five hundred-year" event, suggesting they are unlikely to recur. But then they happen again, within a few years. This shows the assessments of future climate risks are too conservative, and so vulnerable communities and governments are under-prepared. Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires were of an intensity not projected to occur till towards the end of the century. And some heat extremes of the early 2020s were at a level projected for the 2030s. It's a problem created in part by over-reliance on the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which have a track record of being too conservative. The Australian government is late in delivering its first domestically-focused National Climate Risk Assessment, which was due in December, and should be the basis for emergency management, resilience and climate adaptation planning. Will it be up to date, and will it give attention to the plausible worst-case (extreme) possibilities, because they result in the greatest damage to people and property? There is reason to worry that the physical reality of accelerating climate disruption will mug Australia's risk assessment and leave us poorly prepared. One foundation for understanding future climate impacts is how quickly temperatures will rise. And that is now a big issue, because the government's assumption was that warming would be in the range of 1.5 to 2 degrees by 2050. And it is still the basis of most international climate policy formulation. Now it is way out of date. Just seven years ago, IPCC scientists projected global average warming of 1.5 degrees would not occur till 2040. But that warming level has now been reached, 15 years earlier than forecast. Both 2023 and 2024 reached 1.5 degrees, and the running average for the last 24 months has been close to 1.6 degrees. For all practical purposes, the warming trend has reached 1.5 degeres. A new World Meteorological Organization report says that Earth will cross this point in just two years, with a "70 per cent chance that the 2025-29 five-year mean will exceed 1.5 degrees above the 1850-1900 average". Acknowledging that a level of warming not expected till 2040 is here right now in 2025 means facing the bitter reality that 15 years have just been "lost" from the emissions-reduction timetable. What does that practically mean? At the 2015 Paris climate policymaking conference, the goal of holding warming to 1.5-2 degrees was agreed to, together with actions (in theory) to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, based on the now-superseded warming projections. So the "lost" 15 years means that this net-zero-by-2050 goal now needs to be net-zero-by-2035. Most policymakers, including the Australian government, seem not to have recognised this. When the penny drops in Canberra that we are already at 1.5 degrees, will that realisation be reflected in the National Climate Risk Assessment? Australia's climate modelling capacity has been degraded. The biggest problems are lack of independent and expert scientific advice, and the lack of coordination across departments and agencies, and a culture of empire-building. Restoring a climate science advisory group to provide high-level, independent advice to the Australian government is a key task. Scientists have been shocked at the pace of change. The rate of warming has accelerated from less than 0.2 dgrees per decade to 0.3 degrees or more per decade. And tipping points are occurring now, including at both poles. Permafrost, boreal forests and the Amazon are becoming net carbon emitters. This year, new research has reaffirmed that 1.5 degrees is too high to prevent tipping points: there is a significant risk of large Amazon forest dieback if global warming overshoots 1.5 degrees, yet we are there right now. And there is a new scientific warning that "1.5 degrees is too high for polar ice sheets". The evidence grows that the 1.5 degrees target was never a safe target for humanity. All of this leads to one conclusion: we are on the edge of a precipice and humanity now needs to throw everything at the climate threat, literally "all hands on deck". The late professor Will Steffen's call to make climate the primary target of policy and economics is now a survival imperative. The business-as-usual delusion embraced by policymakers that climate is just another issue is laid bare by the 1.5 degrees time-bomb. How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine, if Australians' recent experience of more extreme weather and natural disasters - driven by a hotter climate - are an indication, because the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future. Civil engineer Alan Hoban says flood maps around Australia drastically underestimate the impact climate change will have on rainfall due to conservative assumptions about how fast rainfall intensity will increase. "Very few flood maps in south-east Queensland, or even Australia, yet account for these changes," he says. Extreme floods and rain events are often oddly described as a "one-in-a-hundred-year" or a "one-in-five hundred-year" event, suggesting they are unlikely to recur. But then they happen again, within a few years. This shows the assessments of future climate risks are too conservative, and so vulnerable communities and governments are under-prepared. Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires were of an intensity not projected to occur till towards the end of the century. And some heat extremes of the early 2020s were at a level projected for the 2030s. It's a problem created in part by over-reliance on the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which have a track record of being too conservative. The Australian government is late in delivering its first domestically-focused National Climate Risk Assessment, which was due in December, and should be the basis for emergency management, resilience and climate adaptation planning. Will it be up to date, and will it give attention to the plausible worst-case (extreme) possibilities, because they result in the greatest damage to people and property? There is reason to worry that the physical reality of accelerating climate disruption will mug Australia's risk assessment and leave us poorly prepared. One foundation for understanding future climate impacts is how quickly temperatures will rise. And that is now a big issue, because the government's assumption was that warming would be in the range of 1.5 to 2 degrees by 2050. And it is still the basis of most international climate policy formulation. Now it is way out of date. Just seven years ago, IPCC scientists projected global average warming of 1.5 degrees would not occur till 2040. But that warming level has now been reached, 15 years earlier than forecast. Both 2023 and 2024 reached 1.5 degrees, and the running average for the last 24 months has been close to 1.6 degrees. For all practical purposes, the warming trend has reached 1.5 degeres. A new World Meteorological Organization report says that Earth will cross this point in just two years, with a "70 per cent chance that the 2025-29 five-year mean will exceed 1.5 degrees above the 1850-1900 average". Acknowledging that a level of warming not expected till 2040 is here right now in 2025 means facing the bitter reality that 15 years have just been "lost" from the emissions-reduction timetable. What does that practically mean? At the 2015 Paris climate policymaking conference, the goal of holding warming to 1.5-2 degrees was agreed to, together with actions (in theory) to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, based on the now-superseded warming projections. So the "lost" 15 years means that this net-zero-by-2050 goal now needs to be net-zero-by-2035. Most policymakers, including the Australian government, seem not to have recognised this. When the penny drops in Canberra that we are already at 1.5 degrees, will that realisation be reflected in the National Climate Risk Assessment? Australia's climate modelling capacity has been degraded. The biggest problems are lack of independent and expert scientific advice, and the lack of coordination across departments and agencies, and a culture of empire-building. Restoring a climate science advisory group to provide high-level, independent advice to the Australian government is a key task. Scientists have been shocked at the pace of change. The rate of warming has accelerated from less than 0.2 dgrees per decade to 0.3 degrees or more per decade. And tipping points are occurring now, including at both poles. Permafrost, boreal forests and the Amazon are becoming net carbon emitters. This year, new research has reaffirmed that 1.5 degrees is too high to prevent tipping points: there is a significant risk of large Amazon forest dieback if global warming overshoots 1.5 degrees, yet we are there right now. And there is a new scientific warning that "1.5 degrees is too high for polar ice sheets". The evidence grows that the 1.5 degrees target was never a safe target for humanity. All of this leads to one conclusion: we are on the edge of a precipice and humanity now needs to throw everything at the climate threat, literally "all hands on deck". The late professor Will Steffen's call to make climate the primary target of policy and economics is now a survival imperative. The business-as-usual delusion embraced by policymakers that climate is just another issue is laid bare by the 1.5 degrees time-bomb. How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine, if Australians' recent experience of more extreme weather and natural disasters - driven by a hotter climate - are an indication, because the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future. Civil engineer Alan Hoban says flood maps around Australia drastically underestimate the impact climate change will have on rainfall due to conservative assumptions about how fast rainfall intensity will increase. "Very few flood maps in south-east Queensland, or even Australia, yet account for these changes," he says. Extreme floods and rain events are often oddly described as a "one-in-a-hundred-year" or a "one-in-five hundred-year" event, suggesting they are unlikely to recur. But then they happen again, within a few years. This shows the assessments of future climate risks are too conservative, and so vulnerable communities and governments are under-prepared. Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires were of an intensity not projected to occur till towards the end of the century. And some heat extremes of the early 2020s were at a level projected for the 2030s. It's a problem created in part by over-reliance on the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which have a track record of being too conservative. The Australian government is late in delivering its first domestically-focused National Climate Risk Assessment, which was due in December, and should be the basis for emergency management, resilience and climate adaptation planning. Will it be up to date, and will it give attention to the plausible worst-case (extreme) possibilities, because they result in the greatest damage to people and property? There is reason to worry that the physical reality of accelerating climate disruption will mug Australia's risk assessment and leave us poorly prepared. One foundation for understanding future climate impacts is how quickly temperatures will rise. And that is now a big issue, because the government's assumption was that warming would be in the range of 1.5 to 2 degrees by 2050. And it is still the basis of most international climate policy formulation. Now it is way out of date. Just seven years ago, IPCC scientists projected global average warming of 1.5 degrees would not occur till 2040. But that warming level has now been reached, 15 years earlier than forecast. Both 2023 and 2024 reached 1.5 degrees, and the running average for the last 24 months has been close to 1.6 degrees. For all practical purposes, the warming trend has reached 1.5 degeres. A new World Meteorological Organization report says that Earth will cross this point in just two years, with a "70 per cent chance that the 2025-29 five-year mean will exceed 1.5 degrees above the 1850-1900 average". Acknowledging that a level of warming not expected till 2040 is here right now in 2025 means facing the bitter reality that 15 years have just been "lost" from the emissions-reduction timetable. What does that practically mean? At the 2015 Paris climate policymaking conference, the goal of holding warming to 1.5-2 degrees was agreed to, together with actions (in theory) to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, based on the now-superseded warming projections. So the "lost" 15 years means that this net-zero-by-2050 goal now needs to be net-zero-by-2035. Most policymakers, including the Australian government, seem not to have recognised this. When the penny drops in Canberra that we are already at 1.5 degrees, will that realisation be reflected in the National Climate Risk Assessment? Australia's climate modelling capacity has been degraded. The biggest problems are lack of independent and expert scientific advice, and the lack of coordination across departments and agencies, and a culture of empire-building. Restoring a climate science advisory group to provide high-level, independent advice to the Australian government is a key task. Scientists have been shocked at the pace of change. The rate of warming has accelerated from less than 0.2 dgrees per decade to 0.3 degrees or more per decade. And tipping points are occurring now, including at both poles. Permafrost, boreal forests and the Amazon are becoming net carbon emitters. This year, new research has reaffirmed that 1.5 degrees is too high to prevent tipping points: there is a significant risk of large Amazon forest dieback if global warming overshoots 1.5 degrees, yet we are there right now. And there is a new scientific warning that "1.5 degrees is too high for polar ice sheets". The evidence grows that the 1.5 degrees target was never a safe target for humanity. All of this leads to one conclusion: we are on the edge of a precipice and humanity now needs to throw everything at the climate threat, literally "all hands on deck". The late professor Will Steffen's call to make climate the primary target of policy and economics is now a survival imperative. The business-as-usual delusion embraced by policymakers that climate is just another issue is laid bare by the 1.5 degrees time-bomb.
The Advertiser
2 days ago
- The Advertiser
Pristine day heralds winter solstice and longest night of the year
There were - to use the journalist's favourite literary device - 'sealier' places to be than soaking up the sun just off Newcastle Ocean Baths on a near-perfect winter's day on Friday. It boasted a pristine sky, fair surfing conditions and clean sets off the Cowrie Hole. Awash in a warm and sunny 19 degrees, and just off the back of the Newcastle Ocean Baths, a bulky Australian fur seal luxuriated in the serenity as the surfers gave it a respectful berth. The fur seal - which, along with their long-nose cousins, frequent the Hunter - is a somewhat regular visitor to the ocean baths. Lifeguards on Friday morning, speaking of the big pup like an old friend, said it drops by usually around this time of year to check in. Its whiskers just crested the water line as is bobbed between the swell. Time seemed to slow down as residents and shutterbugs mingled to take it in. "This is a process called thermo-regulating," a spokesperson for Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia told the Newcastle Herald in 2023, when another seal was spotted off the Nobbys breakwall similarly waving a flipper as it floated. "When they get too hot, it helps them cool down." Friday's sunshine was expected to gradually give way to cloudier conditions, with a chance of showers toward the middle of next week. Surf conditions are expected to remain fair through Sunday, with a swell just above two feet, at waist height. Southern swell spots were making the best of the conditions, surf forecasters said, with chest-high waves for the short boards, or the sheltered zones optimal for the longboards on the incoming tide. The southern hemisphere's winter solstice is on Saturday, June 21. It marks Australia's shortest day and longest night of the year based on sunlight hours. But the good news is that from then on Aussies will get an incremental increase in the amount of visible sunlight each day. There were - to use the journalist's favourite literary device - 'sealier' places to be than soaking up the sun just off Newcastle Ocean Baths on a near-perfect winter's day on Friday. It boasted a pristine sky, fair surfing conditions and clean sets off the Cowrie Hole. Awash in a warm and sunny 19 degrees, and just off the back of the Newcastle Ocean Baths, a bulky Australian fur seal luxuriated in the serenity as the surfers gave it a respectful berth. The fur seal - which, along with their long-nose cousins, frequent the Hunter - is a somewhat regular visitor to the ocean baths. Lifeguards on Friday morning, speaking of the big pup like an old friend, said it drops by usually around this time of year to check in. Its whiskers just crested the water line as is bobbed between the swell. Time seemed to slow down as residents and shutterbugs mingled to take it in. "This is a process called thermo-regulating," a spokesperson for Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia told the Newcastle Herald in 2023, when another seal was spotted off the Nobbys breakwall similarly waving a flipper as it floated. "When they get too hot, it helps them cool down." Friday's sunshine was expected to gradually give way to cloudier conditions, with a chance of showers toward the middle of next week. Surf conditions are expected to remain fair through Sunday, with a swell just above two feet, at waist height. Southern swell spots were making the best of the conditions, surf forecasters said, with chest-high waves for the short boards, or the sheltered zones optimal for the longboards on the incoming tide. The southern hemisphere's winter solstice is on Saturday, June 21. It marks Australia's shortest day and longest night of the year based on sunlight hours. But the good news is that from then on Aussies will get an incremental increase in the amount of visible sunlight each day. There were - to use the journalist's favourite literary device - 'sealier' places to be than soaking up the sun just off Newcastle Ocean Baths on a near-perfect winter's day on Friday. It boasted a pristine sky, fair surfing conditions and clean sets off the Cowrie Hole. Awash in a warm and sunny 19 degrees, and just off the back of the Newcastle Ocean Baths, a bulky Australian fur seal luxuriated in the serenity as the surfers gave it a respectful berth. The fur seal - which, along with their long-nose cousins, frequent the Hunter - is a somewhat regular visitor to the ocean baths. Lifeguards on Friday morning, speaking of the big pup like an old friend, said it drops by usually around this time of year to check in. Its whiskers just crested the water line as is bobbed between the swell. Time seemed to slow down as residents and shutterbugs mingled to take it in. "This is a process called thermo-regulating," a spokesperson for Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia told the Newcastle Herald in 2023, when another seal was spotted off the Nobbys breakwall similarly waving a flipper as it floated. "When they get too hot, it helps them cool down." Friday's sunshine was expected to gradually give way to cloudier conditions, with a chance of showers toward the middle of next week. Surf conditions are expected to remain fair through Sunday, with a swell just above two feet, at waist height. Southern swell spots were making the best of the conditions, surf forecasters said, with chest-high waves for the short boards, or the sheltered zones optimal for the longboards on the incoming tide. The southern hemisphere's winter solstice is on Saturday, June 21. It marks Australia's shortest day and longest night of the year based on sunlight hours. But the good news is that from then on Aussies will get an incremental increase in the amount of visible sunlight each day. There were - to use the journalist's favourite literary device - 'sealier' places to be than soaking up the sun just off Newcastle Ocean Baths on a near-perfect winter's day on Friday. It boasted a pristine sky, fair surfing conditions and clean sets off the Cowrie Hole. Awash in a warm and sunny 19 degrees, and just off the back of the Newcastle Ocean Baths, a bulky Australian fur seal luxuriated in the serenity as the surfers gave it a respectful berth. The fur seal - which, along with their long-nose cousins, frequent the Hunter - is a somewhat regular visitor to the ocean baths. Lifeguards on Friday morning, speaking of the big pup like an old friend, said it drops by usually around this time of year to check in. Its whiskers just crested the water line as is bobbed between the swell. Time seemed to slow down as residents and shutterbugs mingled to take it in. "This is a process called thermo-regulating," a spokesperson for Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia told the Newcastle Herald in 2023, when another seal was spotted off the Nobbys breakwall similarly waving a flipper as it floated. "When they get too hot, it helps them cool down." Friday's sunshine was expected to gradually give way to cloudier conditions, with a chance of showers toward the middle of next week. Surf conditions are expected to remain fair through Sunday, with a swell just above two feet, at waist height. Southern swell spots were making the best of the conditions, surf forecasters said, with chest-high waves for the short boards, or the sheltered zones optimal for the longboards on the incoming tide. The southern hemisphere's winter solstice is on Saturday, June 21. It marks Australia's shortest day and longest night of the year based on sunlight hours. But the good news is that from then on Aussies will get an incremental increase in the amount of visible sunlight each day.
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- The Advertiser
World's top player and a struggler off to flying start
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler has laid down the marker with an eight-under 62 to share the lead with Austin Eckroat in the Travelers Championship. The week after a rough-and-tumble US Open was a welcome break for so many at the TPC River Highlands even with the rough just as long but not quite as thick as soaked Oakmont. Rory McIlroy played bogey-free for a 66 and didn't look to break too much of a sweat on Thursday. "This is a nice tonic compared to last week in terms of it's a slightly more benign golf course and the penalty for missing isn't quite as severe," McIlroy said. Scheffler faced the hot afternoon when a refreshing breeze turned into a strong wind, and he wasted no time getting in the mix with four birdies in six holes and a 30 on the front nine. And then came the par-5 13th, 236 yards away into the wind, over a pond to a pin on the right. It was perfect - that's coming from golf's best player - and settled 10 feet away for birdie. "That three-iron I hit in there was really nice," Scheffler said. "It was pretty much exactly what I was trying to do. It was kind of one where I had to hit it really solid in order to get it there with the water short, and I just did pretty much exactly what I wanted to and it felt nice." McIlroy was at 64 along with Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Another shot back was Cameron Young. He was in the mix late on Sunday at Oakmont, and started the Travelers Championship by going from the rough to the bunker, and then a three-putt from 25 feet for a double bogey. "I managed to get around Oakmont for four days with no doubles and I made it zero holes here," Young said. "Typically that's not kind of what you expect around here." Not to worry. He followed with eight birdies in a day with a new routine. His caddie went down with a stomach virus and the best option was to turn the bag over to his father, Dave Young, recently retired as the longtime pro at Sleepy Hollow. The surprise was Eckroat, already a two-time winner on the PGA Tour but struggling so much this year that he has only two finishes in the top 20 and eight missed cuts. "Felt great over the putter, and just a really solid day, and I felt confident, which it was nice to feel that this season," said Eckroat. "It's been a while." US Open champion JJ Spaun felt the fatigue, and the steamy heat didn't help the cause. Playing along Scheffler, he was hanging in there until it took him two chips and two putts to cover 40 feet for a double bogey on No. 12, and a bogey-bogey finish for a 73. Jason Day was the best of the Australian contingent making a four-under 66 to be tied seventh. The former world No.1 made five birdies, including four in a row starting on the 13th, with his only bogey on the sixth. Cam Davis (71), Adam Scott (72) and Min Woo Lee (73) are all in the second half of the field but there is no halfway cut in this tournament. World No.1 Scottie Scheffler has laid down the marker with an eight-under 62 to share the lead with Austin Eckroat in the Travelers Championship. The week after a rough-and-tumble US Open was a welcome break for so many at the TPC River Highlands even with the rough just as long but not quite as thick as soaked Oakmont. Rory McIlroy played bogey-free for a 66 and didn't look to break too much of a sweat on Thursday. "This is a nice tonic compared to last week in terms of it's a slightly more benign golf course and the penalty for missing isn't quite as severe," McIlroy said. Scheffler faced the hot afternoon when a refreshing breeze turned into a strong wind, and he wasted no time getting in the mix with four birdies in six holes and a 30 on the front nine. And then came the par-5 13th, 236 yards away into the wind, over a pond to a pin on the right. It was perfect - that's coming from golf's best player - and settled 10 feet away for birdie. "That three-iron I hit in there was really nice," Scheffler said. "It was pretty much exactly what I was trying to do. It was kind of one where I had to hit it really solid in order to get it there with the water short, and I just did pretty much exactly what I wanted to and it felt nice." McIlroy was at 64 along with Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Another shot back was Cameron Young. He was in the mix late on Sunday at Oakmont, and started the Travelers Championship by going from the rough to the bunker, and then a three-putt from 25 feet for a double bogey. "I managed to get around Oakmont for four days with no doubles and I made it zero holes here," Young said. "Typically that's not kind of what you expect around here." Not to worry. He followed with eight birdies in a day with a new routine. His caddie went down with a stomach virus and the best option was to turn the bag over to his father, Dave Young, recently retired as the longtime pro at Sleepy Hollow. The surprise was Eckroat, already a two-time winner on the PGA Tour but struggling so much this year that he has only two finishes in the top 20 and eight missed cuts. "Felt great over the putter, and just a really solid day, and I felt confident, which it was nice to feel that this season," said Eckroat. "It's been a while." US Open champion JJ Spaun felt the fatigue, and the steamy heat didn't help the cause. Playing along Scheffler, he was hanging in there until it took him two chips and two putts to cover 40 feet for a double bogey on No. 12, and a bogey-bogey finish for a 73. Jason Day was the best of the Australian contingent making a four-under 66 to be tied seventh. The former world No.1 made five birdies, including four in a row starting on the 13th, with his only bogey on the sixth. Cam Davis (71), Adam Scott (72) and Min Woo Lee (73) are all in the second half of the field but there is no halfway cut in this tournament. World No.1 Scottie Scheffler has laid down the marker with an eight-under 62 to share the lead with Austin Eckroat in the Travelers Championship. The week after a rough-and-tumble US Open was a welcome break for so many at the TPC River Highlands even with the rough just as long but not quite as thick as soaked Oakmont. Rory McIlroy played bogey-free for a 66 and didn't look to break too much of a sweat on Thursday. "This is a nice tonic compared to last week in terms of it's a slightly more benign golf course and the penalty for missing isn't quite as severe," McIlroy said. Scheffler faced the hot afternoon when a refreshing breeze turned into a strong wind, and he wasted no time getting in the mix with four birdies in six holes and a 30 on the front nine. And then came the par-5 13th, 236 yards away into the wind, over a pond to a pin on the right. It was perfect - that's coming from golf's best player - and settled 10 feet away for birdie. "That three-iron I hit in there was really nice," Scheffler said. "It was pretty much exactly what I was trying to do. It was kind of one where I had to hit it really solid in order to get it there with the water short, and I just did pretty much exactly what I wanted to and it felt nice." McIlroy was at 64 along with Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Another shot back was Cameron Young. He was in the mix late on Sunday at Oakmont, and started the Travelers Championship by going from the rough to the bunker, and then a three-putt from 25 feet for a double bogey. "I managed to get around Oakmont for four days with no doubles and I made it zero holes here," Young said. "Typically that's not kind of what you expect around here." Not to worry. He followed with eight birdies in a day with a new routine. His caddie went down with a stomach virus and the best option was to turn the bag over to his father, Dave Young, recently retired as the longtime pro at Sleepy Hollow. The surprise was Eckroat, already a two-time winner on the PGA Tour but struggling so much this year that he has only two finishes in the top 20 and eight missed cuts. "Felt great over the putter, and just a really solid day, and I felt confident, which it was nice to feel that this season," said Eckroat. "It's been a while." US Open champion JJ Spaun felt the fatigue, and the steamy heat didn't help the cause. Playing along Scheffler, he was hanging in there until it took him two chips and two putts to cover 40 feet for a double bogey on No. 12, and a bogey-bogey finish for a 73. Jason Day was the best of the Australian contingent making a four-under 66 to be tied seventh. The former world No.1 made five birdies, including four in a row starting on the 13th, with his only bogey on the sixth. Cam Davis (71), Adam Scott (72) and Min Woo Lee (73) are all in the second half of the field but there is no halfway cut in this tournament. World No.1 Scottie Scheffler has laid down the marker with an eight-under 62 to share the lead with Austin Eckroat in the Travelers Championship. The week after a rough-and-tumble US Open was a welcome break for so many at the TPC River Highlands even with the rough just as long but not quite as thick as soaked Oakmont. Rory McIlroy played bogey-free for a 66 and didn't look to break too much of a sweat on Thursday. "This is a nice tonic compared to last week in terms of it's a slightly more benign golf course and the penalty for missing isn't quite as severe," McIlroy said. Scheffler faced the hot afternoon when a refreshing breeze turned into a strong wind, and he wasted no time getting in the mix with four birdies in six holes and a 30 on the front nine. And then came the par-5 13th, 236 yards away into the wind, over a pond to a pin on the right. It was perfect - that's coming from golf's best player - and settled 10 feet away for birdie. "That three-iron I hit in there was really nice," Scheffler said. "It was pretty much exactly what I was trying to do. It was kind of one where I had to hit it really solid in order to get it there with the water short, and I just did pretty much exactly what I wanted to and it felt nice." McIlroy was at 64 along with Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Another shot back was Cameron Young. He was in the mix late on Sunday at Oakmont, and started the Travelers Championship by going from the rough to the bunker, and then a three-putt from 25 feet for a double bogey. "I managed to get around Oakmont for four days with no doubles and I made it zero holes here," Young said. "Typically that's not kind of what you expect around here." Not to worry. He followed with eight birdies in a day with a new routine. His caddie went down with a stomach virus and the best option was to turn the bag over to his father, Dave Young, recently retired as the longtime pro at Sleepy Hollow. The surprise was Eckroat, already a two-time winner on the PGA Tour but struggling so much this year that he has only two finishes in the top 20 and eight missed cuts. "Felt great over the putter, and just a really solid day, and I felt confident, which it was nice to feel that this season," said Eckroat. "It's been a while." US Open champion JJ Spaun felt the fatigue, and the steamy heat didn't help the cause. Playing along Scheffler, he was hanging in there until it took him two chips and two putts to cover 40 feet for a double bogey on No. 12, and a bogey-bogey finish for a 73. Jason Day was the best of the Australian contingent making a four-under 66 to be tied seventh. The former world No.1 made five birdies, including four in a row starting on the 13th, with his only bogey on the sixth. Cam Davis (71), Adam Scott (72) and Min Woo Lee (73) are all in the second half of the field but there is no halfway cut in this tournament.
