Extreme weather: why the impact will be felt more widely

Extreme is the new normal when it comes to weather, with devastation caused by floods, fires and cyclones filling our news feeds all too frequently.

Health services need to build surge capacity
 to prepare for extreme weather events in the future. 

Thanks to the relatively recent development of event attribution in climate science, researchers can now confidently attribute the increase in extreme weather events to human-forced climate change.

For Australians, climate change means more heatwaves, more droughts, more intense cyclones (although less of them) and more flooding. The impact of such weather is already a reality for many who have lost homes and, tragically, loved ones, in events like the recent Queensland and northern New South Wales floods.

But the impact of extreme weather will be felt more widely. How will it affect our health? Are our buildings changing to adapt? Will our insurance policies change?

We asked seven University of Melbourne experts about our preparedness.

Read the story by Catriona May on the University of Melbourne’s Pursuit website - “Extreme weather: why the impact will be felt more widely.”