The unseasonably warm winter we've been experiencing in Australia is a huge concern for climate experts, yet it doesn't come as a surprise.
It's also something we can likely expect in future years Down Under.
Australia has farewelled the winter months with a blast of warm temperatures, particularly across the east coast, thrilling millions with a promise of an early spring.
While the warm temperatures may come as a pleasant surprise, ANU Professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, who specialises in climate extremes, has warned 9News that a winter "heat wave" is evidence climate change is nearing an irreversible boiling point.
"It's unseasonable to be this warm this early. It's nice, everyone's getting caught up in the fact spring started early this year, but from my perspective, it's concerning," Perkins-Kirkpatrick said.
"Because it's exactly what we expect in a world fuelled by climate change. When we have really intense heat waves, regardless of the time of the year, it's concerning.
"We don't necessarily want to be right about this, because it means bad things."
In late August, we saw south-eastern capital cities much warmer than average for this time in winter.
Sydney had a maximum temperature of 25 degrees, while the mercury topped 24 degrees in Adelaide and 23 degrees in Melbourne. Canberra and Hobart, meanwhile, experienced highs of 21 and 19 respectively.
The word "heat wave" is usually reserved for uncomfortably hot summers in Australia.
Perkins-Kirkpatrick said while this felt very different in winter, it was a heat wave all the same.
Hottest month in human history recorded
"When we're talking about heat waves in winter, they do tend to feel like more pleasant days," she told 9News.
"We will never get blistering 40-degree days in the depths of winter, but we can certainly have events like this one where it is much warmer than the average for this time of year."
Perkins-Kirkpatrick lives in Canberra and said the August average temperature for this time of year was 14 degrees, however there was a forecast of a 21-degree average next week.
"That's certainly an extreme, relative to this term of year," she said. "It shows winters are shortening… we're getting a lengthening of the warmer parts of the year."
Professor Mark Howden, the director of the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions, agreed the warm winter was worrying.
"What we are experiencing is almost like summer temperatures in winter and that should be a cause for concern," he told 9News.
"There's a long-term trend towards increased temperatures in Australia, as there is globally. And what we'll see now is just a foretaste of what will come, because we're not reducing our greenhouse gas emissions at the moment."
Both Howden and Perkins-Kirkpatrick said the trend of warmer weather, both in winter and summer, meant Australian communities and infrastructure need to adapt as a matter of urgency.
"There's this focus now on higher-density housing, that don't have green areas and aren't equipped to keep the residents cool, and we're putting those people at greater risk as well," Perkins-Kirkpatrick said.
"Our hospitals are already stretched. We've got a long way to go to make sure we're fully bolstered for these types of events. That's something that really does concern me moving forward."
Howden adds: "It means we need to be thinking seriously about that adaptation right now, and build our capacity for further adaptation in the future.
"And that means right across the year, not just a winter, summer thing."