Australia's Tinderbox Drought (2017–2019) was an extreme drought event that significantly worsened due to human-caused climate change. It was characterized by a 50% rainfall deficit in three consecutive cool seasons, which was highly unusual in the context of natural variability. The drought was driven by an anomalous atmospheric circulation pattern that diverted oceanic moisture away from the region, combined with high temperatures, high vapor pressure deficits, and reduced terrestrial water availability. Anthropogenic factors intensified the drought by about 18%, with considerable uncertainty in attributing droughts to human activity. Machine learning models showed that the drought could be predicted using multiple remote and local predictors, offering prospects for improving drought forecasting. The drought affected a large portion of southeast Australia, including the Murray-Darling Basin, and had severe impacts on water resources, agriculture, and ecosystems. It led to severe agricultural losses, water shortages, and the catastrophic Black Summer fires in 2019/2020. The drought was the most intense three-year drought in the region since 1900, with extreme rainfall deficits that were not offset by rainfall in the intervening months. The drought was also marked by exceptionally high temperatures and vapor pressure deficits, which exacerbated the drought and fire risk. The drought was preceded by a long-term drying trend in southeast Australia, with 15 of the 20 years between 2000 and 2019 experiencing rainfall below the long-term average. The drought's impacts were widespread, affecting all aspects of the water cycle, including soil moisture, streamflow, and groundwater. The drought also led to significant vegetation stress, with vegetation optical depth and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) showing severe declines. The drought had a major impact on agricultural production, with wheat and barley yields dropping significantly, and rice and cotton production being particularly affected by reduced irrigation water availability. The probability of the drought occurring due to natural climate variability was exceptionally low, with the observed rainfall deficits being at the 0.02% level of random resamplings. The drought was also unlikely under an empirically based null hypothesis, with the probability of experiencing a three-year drought of this severity being less than 1%. The drought was likely exacerbated by anthropogenic forcing, which intensified the rainfall deficits by around 18%. Large-scale climate drivers, including El Niño, the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), played a role in the drought, but the specific mechanisms driving the drought were complex and involved interactions between oceanic and atmospheric processes. The drought was also influenced by changes in synoptic weather systems, with a reduction in the frequency and intensity of rain-bearing weather systems contributing to the rainfall deficits. The drought was further exacerbated by reduced moisture inflow to warm conveyor belts, which are key components of the atmospheric circulation that transport moisture to the region. The drought highlights theAustralia's Tinderbox Drought (2017–2019) was an extreme drought event that significantly worsened due to human-caused climate change. It was characterized by a 50% rainfall deficit in three consecutive cool seasons, which was highly unusual in the context of natural variability. The drought was driven by an anomalous atmospheric circulation pattern that diverted oceanic moisture away from the region, combined with high temperatures, high vapor pressure deficits, and reduced terrestrial water availability. Anthropogenic factors intensified the drought by about 18%, with considerable uncertainty in attributing droughts to human activity. Machine learning models showed that the drought could be predicted using multiple remote and local predictors, offering prospects for improving drought forecasting. The drought affected a large portion of southeast Australia, including the Murray-Darling Basin, and had severe impacts on water resources, agriculture, and ecosystems. It led to severe agricultural losses, water shortages, and the catastrophic Black Summer fires in 2019/2020. The drought was the most intense three-year drought in the region since 1900, with extreme rainfall deficits that were not offset by rainfall in the intervening months. The drought was also marked by exceptionally high temperatures and vapor pressure deficits, which exacerbated the drought and fire risk. The drought was preceded by a long-term drying trend in southeast Australia, with 15 of the 20 years between 2000 and 2019 experiencing rainfall below the long-term average. The drought's impacts were widespread, affecting all aspects of the water cycle, including soil moisture, streamflow, and groundwater. The drought also led to significant vegetation stress, with vegetation optical depth and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) showing severe declines. The drought had a major impact on agricultural production, with wheat and barley yields dropping significantly, and rice and cotton production being particularly affected by reduced irrigation water availability. The probability of the drought occurring due to natural climate variability was exceptionally low, with the observed rainfall deficits being at the 0.02% level of random resamplings. The drought was also unlikely under an empirically based null hypothesis, with the probability of experiencing a three-year drought of this severity being less than 1%. The drought was likely exacerbated by anthropogenic forcing, which intensified the rainfall deficits by around 18%. Large-scale climate drivers, including El Niño, the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), played a role in the drought, but the specific mechanisms driving the drought were complex and involved interactions between oceanic and atmospheric processes. The drought was also influenced by changes in synoptic weather systems, with a reduction in the frequency and intensity of rain-bearing weather systems contributing to the rainfall deficits. The drought was further exacerbated by reduced moisture inflow to warm conveyor belts, which are key components of the atmospheric circulation that transport moisture to the region. The drought highlights the