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Don't forget the effect of mountains. New Zealand is so wet because it's peaks are high enough to force precipitation from passing weather fronts as well as catching and holding water in glaciers and snow.
Move Australia South and you might just get a cold desert.
Those cities would be around 60 S, so would more likely be treeless tundra climates. Even Brisbane would be around MacQuarie Island's latitude.
You're probably right about Tasmania and Victoria, I'd guess areas north of Sydney/Perth (55S) to be warm enough during the summer to sustain trees, but probably not temperate rainforest either. Perth and Sydney would be a similar latitude to Macquarie Island i(assuming Darwin was at a latitude of 35S) however I think the expanse of land to the north would allow for warmer summers and consequently more trees.
Another thing to consider is that the Southern Ocean between Antarctica and Australia would be much narrower, around 10-15 degrees of latitude, so sea ice joining the two in winter would have an influence as well, would probably see frigid winters throughout Australia.
The prevailing Westerly wind pattern may well be altered if the contintent transversed the 40S to 60S latitudes, making it more continental and prone to bursts of cold from Antarctica.
Australia's mountains though are very low compared with the Andes -which the Roaring 40's and Furious 50's navigate now, so this is just speculation:
I overlaid a satellite image of Australia into google earth with the axis of rotation being Tasmania with NW Australia rotated a few degrees clockwise, which gives it more northerly latitude. Perth is only at 49S in this scenario but it would definitely be farther south if the continent were rotated counter clockwise a few degrees. So if it was evenly rotated Perth would be around 57S or 58S.
The scale is more or less correct, in case any of you were wondering. The perspective makes southern Australia look slightly scrunched in this photo. But it's just the perspective.
I didn't put Brisbane in the map but it would be at 50S.
Darwin would have Auckland's climate but more prone to cold outbreaks in winter and would recieve a very small amount of annual snow. It would have Auckland's summers, although more prone to warm outbreaks.
Brisbane would be like Invercargill NZ but sunnier although colder winters and warmer record highs in summer. The city would have an annual snowfall, probably more than Perth as Brisbane would be far more susceptible to cold outbreaks from the interior when considering the prevailing winds.
Sydney would have Macquarie Island's temps for the most part, but with triple the sunshine hours and warm bursts in summer and cold outbreaks in winter with a regular annual snowfall.
Perth would be like Macquarie island but with slightly more sunshine and the rare burst of warmth in summer and cold very cloudy winters with constant drizzle and extreme wind. Snowfall would occur during cold snaps, but perhaps less than the east coast due to the maritime influence.
Melbourne and Adelaide would be very cloudy year round, although both cities would get the odd burst of warmth in summer. Winters would see endless cloud and cold, varying between from drizzly and windy to cold outbreaks with snow. Melbourne would probably have the highest average snowfall of all the capital cities on the mainland except for Canberra.
Canberra would be tundra, cold snowy winters, although would recieve some warmth in summer and would be less windy than Melbourne or Adelaide and be sunnier aswell.
Tasmania would be a tundra for the most part, although the north and northeast coasts would likely support some sort of Boreal vegetation. Snow would fall year round. Summers would be cold, windy and drizzly with some snow, extremely cloudy, and winters would see regular snow and strong winds.
Don't forget the effect of mountains. New Zealand is so wet because it's peaks are high enough to force precipitation from passing weather fronts as well as catching and holding water in glaciers and snow.
Move Australia South and you might just get a cold desert.
I don't think New Zealand would be dry without mountains, just reach typical oceanic climate levels (20-40 inches). The southern coast of Australia is somewhat wet. My guess is most of Australia would be moderately wet and the north part be dry but less so than currently (less intense high pressure in the interior).
Why would southern Australia be tundra at 60° S like many here claim? In the northern hemisphere tundra only extends that far south in Quebeq where climate is the coldest for its latitude in the world. I don't see how Australia could compete.
Why would southern Australia be tundra at 60° S like many here claim? In the northern hemisphere tundra only extends that far south in Quebeq where climate is the coldest for its latitude in the world. I don't see how Australia could compete.
Oceanic climates in high southern latitudes have very cold summers compared to the north hemisphere. Influence of Antarctica perhaps. Argentina 55°S, close to a tundra climate:
Perhaps the higher continentality of Australia would allow warmer summer at 60°S, but doubt the effect would be enough. I suspect Melbourne (and other south coast places) would switch from an actually subarctic (rather subantarctic) conditions with weather from the south to warmer conditions of weather coming from the south. Probably really windy.
Fun thread. Did you ever realize if you rotate Australia's landmass about 60 degrees clockwise and enlarged it about 3 x it resembles Africa?
I recall long ago reading something about terraforming impacts on Australian desert climates to increase rainfall.
Other fun contemplation is, what would be the prevailing changes in climate patterns if the earth's rotation reversed? Or if global crustal displacement / polar shifting occurred what new climactic patterns emerge?
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