Extreme fire weather in Australia and the impact of the El Nino Southern Oscillation

This study investigates the influence of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation o n fire weather in Australia, including its impact on the severity of season al fire danger and on extreme daily fire danger, The meteorological paramet ers of McArthur's forest Fire Danger Index (FDI) are analysed for composite s of years of extreme high and low Southern Oscillation Index (SOT) during the period 1960 to 1992 using eight stations in different climatic zones. R esults show that in southeast Australia and in central Australia, seasonal fire danger is higher in years of strong negative SOI and that the daily FD I has a significantly different distribution (with many more days with extr eme fire danger). The Southern Oscillation has an opposite but small impact on the daily FDI distribution in the southwest of Australia. Daily minimum relative humidity (RH) is the fire weather parameter that is most strongly influenced by the Southern Oscillation. In southeastern Australia RH is si gnificantly lower in years of negative SOI.