Winter’s Here, The Snowfields Are Open, But There’s No Snow

Winter has arrived in Australia. At least, according to the calendar. The ski fields are open. The chairlifts are running. But even with the snow machines, there’s little or no snow to be seen. Warmth and rain have melted what little snow did fall, and the ski runs are mostly grass and mud.

At the same time, much of Australia has experienced its warmest start to winter on record. Sydney is on track for its warmest start to winter since records began in 1859. Melbourne and Canberra are experiencing their warmest starts to winter in decades. Across the country, temperatures are sitting well above average for this time of year. Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart and Canberra are all forecast to be at least 5 degrees warmer than average this week. In my garden, some of the spring flowers have already started blooming.

Globally, the picture is even more alarming. Climate scientist James Hansen and his colleagues argue that 2026 may be the hottest year ever recorded. Other researchers are more cautious, but there’s broad agreement on the underlying trend: global warming is not just occuring, its accelerating.

For years, climate change was something that happened elsewhere or in the future. It was melting glaciers in Greenland, droughts in Africa, coral bleaching on distant reefs, or record heatwaves in places we had never visited.

Now it’s here. It’s here when winter feels like early autumn. It’s here when our snow season arrives without snow. It’s here when insurance premiums rise, when food prices increase after climate-fuelled disasters, when extreme weather damages homes and infrastructure, and when ecosystems that have evolved over thousands of years struggle to adapt to changes occurring within decades.

Perhaps most concerning is how normal this is becoming. Humans are remarkably adaptable. We quickly become accustomed to new realities. Last year’s unprecedented temperatures become this year’s baseline. What would once have been front-page news becomes just another weather report at the bottom of a long list of other news.

This phenomenon has a name: shifting baseline syndrome. Each generation accepts the conditions it grows up with as normal, even when those conditions would have shocked previous generations. The danger isn’t simply that the climate is changing. The danger it’s that we stop noticing.

And while all this is happening, powerful interests would very much like us to be distracted.

They want us arguing about culture wars, symbolic controversies, and manufactured outrage. They want us fighting each other over identity, language, and social media scandals while the atmosphere continues to accumulate greenhouse gases and the planet continues to warm.

That’s not an accident. The fossil fuel fascists like culture wars because they divide communities, attract attention, generate clicks, and consume public debate. Every hour spent arguing over a manufactured controversy is an hour not spent discussing climate risk, energy transition, biodiversity loss, housing resilience, insurance affordability, or the long-term future of our children.

We mustn’t fall for it. Climate change doesn’t care how we vote. It doesn’t care whether we’re progressive or conservative, urban or regional, wealthy or struggling. Physics doesn’t negotiate. The atmosphere doesn’t respond to political spin. The snow doesn’t fall because a politician says everything’s OK and climate change is fake.

The challenge before us should not be ideological. The snowfields are open. But the snow is gone. If that doesn’t tell us something important about the future we are creating, I’m not sure what will.

Before getting despondent, check out my recent post on things you can do now to maintain active hope and help secure as safe planet.

Australia’s snowfields are open but there’s no snow. Photo: ABC News.