Thank you for posting that Beardy.
Interesting read.
Terms:
SSW - is a Sudden Stratospheric Warming over the poles.
IOD - the Indian Ocean Dipolar
SAM - the Southern Annular Mode
BOM - Bureau of Met
According to Dr Hendon, the BOM views "SSWs as a natural, internally-generated, phenomena," but "... very rare in the southern hemisphere."
Although rare, this particular SSW has had a measurable impact on our weather this summer.
What the SSW did this summer was to push the SAM further north, exacerbating our dry conditions.
Elders Weather
Dr Watkins (also from the BOM), said that cooler than normal water in the Indian Ocean, a phenomenon meteorologists call a 'positive IOD', has led to a lack of moisture drifting over the continent. "This has certainly been a big factor in why winter has been so dry in virtually all of Australia. On top of that, we have the likelihood of prolonged periods of negative SAM, which also brings drier conditions to New South Wales and southern Queensland
Both the IOD and SAM are understood to have been altered by CC.
Evolution of the Southern Annular Mode during the past millennium
Increased frequency of extreme Indian Ocean Dipole events due to greenhouse warming
So, the long term trend in climate change has been disturbed this summer (negatively, from our perspective here in SE Australia) by an rare (only twice in sixty years) weather event that itself is not thought to be caused by climate change.
More
here on SSWs, if interested.