TASMANIAN landowners are being urged to prepare for what is shaping up to be a dangerous bushfire season.
And it has already started, with an out of control fire burning through 600ha in the Coles Bay area.
The warnings follow the Bureau of Meteorology declaring an El Nino event this week.
The bureau has also said a positive Indian Ocean Dipole means warmer and drier conditions will be more likely over spring and summer for parts of Australia.
The bureau’s climate manager Karl Braganza said both El Niño and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole tended to draw rain away from Australia.
“Over spring, their combined impact can increase the chance of below average rainfall over much of the continent and higher temperatures across southern Australia,” Dr Braganza said.
He said the bureau had forecast warm and dry conditions for some time and an established El Niño and positive IOD reinforced those predictions.
“Based on history, it is also more likely that warm and dry conditions will persist over eastern Australia until autumn.”
El Niño events increase the risk of extreme temperature shifts like heatwaves and hotter days.
While rainfall is keeping vegetation green in the state’s northern regions, some parts are already facing dry conditions.
This week a climate workshop brought together farmers from the Coal River Valley to discuss how they can prepare and build resilience.
The workshop, the first in a series to be held around the state, focused on topics including weather and seasonal forecasting and climatology.
It was hosted by TAS Farm Innovation Hub along with climate scientist Tom Remenyi and the Coal River Products Association.
Participants discussed how the local climate is likely to change and how operations have changed in the last 20 years.
Tas Farm Innovation Hub senior adoption officer, Sue Hinton, said the workshop aimed to skill farmers around climate resilience.
“Part of our role is to help the community build resilience towards dry conditions and drought,” she said.
“These events help farmers and producers to understand not just the conditions of this season but what’s predicted to happen in the future, how people can start to plan and prepare.”
Dr Remenyi discussed the science around climate and weather forecasting.
The event encouraged discussions between participants and sharing climate strategies.
“These are all really successful farmers that do things really well and it’s about sharing ideas and sharing their knowledge,” Dr Remenyi said.
A hot topic was whether diversifying farm operations would build resilience. Dr Remenyi said just one enterprise could leave farmers at the mercy of seasonal conditions but diversifying too much could mean more work.