How do we save ageing Australians from the heat? Greening our cities is a good start

Heatwaves have killed more Australians than road accidents, fires, floods and all other natural disasters combined. Although recent research shows extreme cold is a worry in some parts of Australia, our hottest summer on record points to more heat-related deaths to come. The record heatwaves have highlighted the damaging effects of heat stress. Understandably, it’s becoming a major public health challenge.

A shade tree makes a big difference to the comfort of this couple.

The risk of extreme heat events and the adverse impacts on older people has been extensively discussed in research. Remarkably, very little attention has been paid to the role of urban greenery in reducing heat stress for seniors.

Older people are particularly at risk of heat stress. Pre-existing medical conditions and limited mobility increase their vulnerability. Deaths of older people increase during extreme heat events.

Read the piece from The Conversation - “How do we save ageing Australians from the heat? Greening our cities is a good start.”

‘It's been extreme': Australia's summer smashes seasonal heat records

Australia has posted its hottest summer and the first season in which temperatures exceeded two degrees above the long-term averages, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Australia will post its hottest ever summer and its
driest since 1982-83, preliminary data from the
Bureau of Meteorology says.CREDIT:

With one more day to round out the season, it is clear Australia has eclipsed the previous hottest summer set in 2012-13, David Jones, manager of the bureau's climate monitoring, told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

"It's been extreme and certainly something we haven't seen before," Dr Jones said. "It's been dry and intensely hot right through summer.”

While final temperatures for February will be set on Thursday, maximum and mean temperatures will come in about two degrees above the 1961-90 period the bureau uses as its benchmark. While minimums were less extreme, they will eclipse the previous record for overnight temperatures set one year earlier.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Peter Hannam - “‘It's been extreme': Australia's summer smashes seasonal heat records.”

Sydney heatwave expected to shatter weather record set before federation

Sydney is on track for its hottest summer, a record that has stood since before federation.

Coogee Beach in Sydney, which is forecast to reach 38C on
Tuesday, with the city’s west tipped to hit 40C in the afternoon.

If Sydneysiders are subjected to one more day above 35C, the ninth this summer, it will equal the record set in 1896. The city has already set a new record for hot nights, with the mercury staying above 24C four times, two more than the summer of 2010.

Sydney is forecast to reach 38C on Tuesday, while the city’s west is expected to hit 40C in the afternoon.

Read the Australian Associated Press story on The Guardian - “Sydney is on track for its hottest summer, a record that has stood since before federation.

If Sydneysiders are subjected to one more day above 35C, the ninth this summer, it will equal the record set in 1896. The city has already set a new record for hot nights, with the mercury staying above 24C four times, two more than the summer of 2010.

Sydney is forecast to reach 38C on Tuesday, while the city’s west is expected to hit 40C in the afternoon.

Read the Australian Associated Press story on The Guardian - “Sydney heatwave expected to shatter weather record set before federation.”

Suddenly, the future doesn’t seem so far away

This summer was not a good time to be pregnant. New South Wales experienced its hottest summer on record, hotter even than the Angry Summer of 2012–13. From Christmas to mid February, heatwave after heatwave engulfed Australia’s largest city. The outskirts of Sydney broke records by reaching almost 47°C, and many other parts of the state, and of Queensland and northern Victoria, received no reprieve from the heat.

My specialty is heatwaves, so ordinarily I would be captivated by weather like this. I study the weather charts to work out where the mass of hot air has originated, how long it might last, and whether another one will follow. I discuss with my team how natural climate variability and other physical mechanisms might be influencing the weather pattern, and formulate and conduct experiments to determine whether human-induced climate change had a role to play. My phone rings hot as media requests roll in, and in interviews I find myself stressing how heatwaves are becoming longer, hotter and more frequent, with summers like the last one just a taste of what is to come.

Sarah Perkin-Kirkparick.

As a scientist, I’m trained to be exceptionally careful. The publication process subjects all my findings are subject to critical peer review. Before that, they are discussed extensively with colleagues to ensure the validity of my interpretation and the significance of the results. Along the way are many control checks, which mean that when I say that summers like 2016–17 will become the new normal, I have the evidence to back it up. Feelings don’t figure in the process, only the presentation of the most accurate and scientifically robust results.

Read Sarah Perkin-Kirkparick’s story on (Inside Story) - “Suddenly, the future doesn’t seem so far away.”

205 records in 90 days: 'Angry summer is the new normal', says Climate Council

Scientists have confirmed what anyone who lived through the past summer knows to be true - climate change is driving hotter and longer summers that are becoming "the new normal", according to scientists, with worse to come unless tough decisions are made.

The summer of 2016/17 produced not only Sydney's hottest summer on record, Canberra's hottest summer for daytime temperatures and Brisbane's hottest summer in terms of mean temperature, but Queensland's second hottest summer on record and the hottest summer temperatures on record for almost 45 per cent of NSW.

Read Stephanie Peatling’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “205 records in 90 days: 'Angry summer is the new normal', says Climate Council.”