In mid-November, Al Jazeera released a story on the drought in Queensland, Australia via its 101 East program page.

According to the text accompanying the half-hour video, "the Australian state of Queensland is experiencing its worst drought on record. Some regions have had as little as five percent of their usual rainfall. Others have had no rain at all while struggling through some of the hottest years on record."

Of course, anthropogenic climate change was directly blamed.

There is a problem with this narrative.  Perhaps even some inconvenient truths.

Since records began in 1900, there has nearly been a significant increasing – not decreasing – trend in annual rainfall for Queensland.  Another inconvenient truth: even during the last three decades, the correlation is toward more annual rainfall in Queensland, not less.  In each year from 2007 through 2012, the state saw more rainfall than the long-term average.  Even 2013 wasn't that dry – ranking as only the 23^rd lowest rainfall since 1900, at 80 percent of normal.  Compare that to 2010, which was the wettest year ever, and 2011 coming in as seventh wettest on record.

None of the individual seasons has a significant trend toward less precipitation – either since 1900 or over the last 30 years.  In summer, the last three decades have seen a statistically significant trend towards more rain.

Almost the entire state is trending toward more rainfall and fewer consecutive dry days over the last 115 years.

The last three decades have shown no significant trend in Queensland's annual temperature, nor in its summer temperature.  In fact, summer temperatures in this state over the last 30 years have a correlation toward a cooling trend, not warming.  Summer maximum temperatures in Queensland don't have a significant trend since records began in 1910.

There are also no significant trends in the summer percentage area within deciles 1 or 10 for maximum temperature or rainfall since records began.  Annual and summer pan evaporation in the state have trended toward less, not more, evaporation since their respective records began in 1975.

The data in no way suggests that the current dry spell in Queensland is the result of man-made climate change.

And the climate alarmists in Australia wonder why their prime minister is skeptical over the mass climate hysteria?