Predicting The Climate of the 2020’s – ECOS Article

February 12th, 2019

The Saying goes that knowing the weather influences the clothes you wear, while knowing the climate influences the clothes you buy/ We have confidence in weather forecasts that stretch several days into the future. We have predictions of the season ahead thanks to climate outlooks of the coming three months. And from climate projections we have scenarios of how climate change may play out over coming decades.

But until now there has been a wide gap between forecasts of the coming days and months, and projections of climate change over the coming century. While we may be able to work out the clothes to wear and but, we’re lacking wardrobe advice for two or three years’ time. That gap between timescales is now being filled by new research into decadal forecasting.

“It’s an exciting time,” says Dr. Richard Matear, leader of the Decadal Climate Forecasting Project in CSIRO’s Climate Science Centre. “It’s a big challenge, and many groups around the world are trying to achieve it but making slow progress.”