http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/science/earth/13climate.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.couriermail.com.au/

Why is it so wet in Australia, mostly in Queensland, but not only? La Nina
(warming waters on the northern side of Australia, while cooler waters over by
Peru). Warmer waters and warmer air above them means that more moisture can be
absorbed by the air.

This year the water temperatures north of Australia are 0.5 degree Celsius
warmer than they were during the 1974 floods in Queensland. More warmth, more
water.

Why is the ocean warmer there now compared to 1974?  You got it, additional greenhouse gases are
warming the planet.

We knew last May that this would be an iffy year for hang gliding in Australia
after a decade of drought, because of the La Nina year that started then. La
Nina is climate, not weather. Add La Nina to global warming and you get a bigger
and "better" La Nina.

How is California doing these days when it comes to moisture? (Of course, we
knew last May that La Nina would very much affect California, also.)

http://climateactioncentre.org/floodsclimatechange

Prominent U.S. climate scientist Kevin Trenberth said the floods and the intense
La Nina were a combination of factors. He pointed to high ocean temperatures in
the Indian Ocean near Indonesia early last year as well as the rapid onset of La
Nina after the last El Nino ended in May. "The rapid onset of La Nina meant the
Asian monsoon was enhanced and the over 1 degree Celsius anomalies in sea
surface temperatures led to the flooding in India and China in July and Pakistan
in August," he told Reuters in an email. He said a portion, about 0.5C, of the
ocean temperatures around northern Australia, which are more than 1.5C above
pre-1970 levels, could be attributed to global warming. "The extra water vapor
fuels the monsoon and thus alters the winds and the monsoon itself and so this
likely increases the rainfall further," said Trenberth, head of the Climate
Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder,
Colorado.

Thursday, tropical moisture (Belinda said Forbes felt like Florida) from Darwin
to Tasmania: