thanks, Scientist. You explain what I've been screaming about for years, and I'm only an engineer.
My analogy: the atmosphere is like the insulation in your house. If the insulation degrades, the temperature swings inside become more drastic (to eventually approach space temps of +/- 250F). The average temps might, MIGHT remain the same, though your note about Australia shows variation there, too.
"It's cold, therefore there's no warming" makes me want to throttle people about the head and shoulders.