Differential warming and rainfall in Ballarat vs. Bendigo, South East Victoria, Australia

To evaluate wind farms' impact on local climate, we compared temperature and rainfall data from Ballarat, with recent wind farm installations, and Bendigo, without, in southwest Victoria, Australia. Both regions share similar population, growth, and meteorological station settings. Wind energy infrastructure maps are available at Aneroid Energy (Fig. 1, 2).

Australian Bureau of Meteorology data since November 1991 show Ballarat’s monthly mean minimum temperatures rising at 0.508°C per decade, similar to Bendigo’s 0.471°C. Over the last decade, coinciding with Ballarat’s wind farm operations, Ballarat’s warming rate increased to 1.287°C per decade, while Bendigo’s was 0.814°C, yielding a 0.473°C differential (Fig. 3, 4). This aligns with Zhou et al. (2012), reporting 0.72°C per decade warming in a Texas wind farm region (Nature Climate Change, 2(7), 539–543).

Rainfall data since 1991 show Ballarat’s monthly rainfall decreasing by 1 mm per decade, while Bendigo’s increased by 0.9 mm. Over the past decade, Ballarat’s rainfall rose by 12.7 mm, compared to Bendigo’s 6.1 mm (Fig. 5, 6), suggesting a potential link to wind farm development. Further research is needed.