I love a rainy night!

In 1975 Eddie Rabbitt sang this song which reminded me of what I felt like:

Well I love a rainy night; I love a rainy night.
I love to hear the thunder;
watch the lightning when it lights up the sky.
You know it makes me feel good.

Google the lyrics, and click on his name for the YouTube link. If you’ve heard it before, you’ll love it. If you’ve never heard it before, you’ll love it!!

Last night and this morning it has rained. This area had rain predicted for more than a week, but this night was the first night it rained in… months! Yes, I know it wasn’t a drought, not a real one, but I had to water my pot plants every second day just to give them a little bit of water, and I hated the overly-hot temperature. I felt very sad about the drought in Stanthorpe, and so many other areas throughout the country.

Not long after I first moved over here, 2005, it got very hot. Parts of Brisbane area got to 41 degrees – hotter than I had ever had in New Zealand! But back then the hot period wasn’t anywhere near as hot as it’s been this summer. In fact, summer felt like it had started before it even did! We didn’t have a spring last year… just winter – summer.

I spent too many nights not sleeping. Now I’m still not sleeping and it’s raining outside! I think I just want to listen to it. Actually, my cat was kept inside until the rain sounded like it was stopping. She went outside a short while ago and it has gotten heavy again. I don’t think she wants to come inside yet!

In the climate change environment it seems that the droughts are increasing and rain is certainly slowing. I found a website called Carbon Brief, based in UK, which seemed to have, a year ago, similar to what we had, and it’s gotten worse. They say “With higher temperatures comes greater evaporation and surface drying, potentially contributing to the intensity and duration of drought.” Which is saying what I just said – more drought, less rain.

And even though Scott Morrison had been a denier, until very recently, the government Department of Environment and Energy website said “Our climate has already changed, and further changes are likely as concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to increase. Decision-makers rely on model-based scenarios of future climate to inform planning decisions.” No date of when they revised the page, but maybe ScuMo hadn’t read it. Maybe he now has. Anyway, CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) work for the government and have been predicting the change to droughts and rain for years.

In the end, it’s up to our own government to help save this country. If they still deny climate change then they have to go.

(c) Ben Jennings