Australia cooks in more record heat

Australia is breaking all the wrong records when it comes to heat. Photo / Getty Images

September was the hottest spring opener on record in Australia, with the national average temperature a sizzling 2.75C above usual.

The gap between the normal September temperature and that recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology was the biggest for any month on record.

Australians have already endured the hottest January, hottest summer and hottest single day ever.

In its second report, the new Climate Council warns Australia is breaking all the wrong records when it comes to weather.

The council's Professor Will Steffen said Australia was on track to record the warmest year to date.

Australia is experiencing persistent heat across the continent, with temperatures from October 2012 to September 1.25 degrees above the long-term average.

Since 1910, average temperatures have risen by 0.9C, with a significant increase in the frequency of hot days.

The Climate Council said a 0.9C temperature rise may not seem like much but even small increases could exacerbate the intensity of extreme weather experienced in Australia.

The latest assessment by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded global warming was driving the frequency and intensity of extremely hot days and heatwaves.

Steffen said Australia was no stranger to baking days but climate change threatened to make extreme heat a much more common and - in the case of bushfires - dangerous occurrence.

The Climate Council was formed after the government abolished the Climate Commission in mid-September.

- AAP