Not every extreme weather event is caused by climate change, but heat waves that were once ridiculously improbable are showing up more often. Just ask Portland.
As our cities get hotter, rebuilding whole suburbs better suited to the heat is not an option. Instead, we can draw from the best examples of how to adapt neighbourhoods and behaviours.
As the planet continues to warm, extreme weather events such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall are becoming more frequent, intense and longer, according to global weather data.
At the peak of a summer heatwave in Adelaide, an aerial survey of land surface temperatures reveals just how much cooler neighbourhoods with good tree and vegetation cover can be.
The first half of 2019 is the equal hottest on record and summer is set to be a scorcher.
Chayathorn Lertpanyaroj/Shutterstock
Average temperatures in Australia are already high by international standards, but what happens when they continue to rise? How much heat can our bodies withstand?
Recent marine heatwaves have devastated crucial coastal habitats, including kelp forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs.
Dan Smale
Dan Smale, Marine Biological Association and Thomas Wernberg, The University of Western Australia
Marine heatwaves, like their land counterparts, are growing hotter and longer. Sea species in southeastern Australia, southeast Asia, northwestern Africa, Europe and eastern Canada are most at risk.
As extreme weather events, like Hurricane Florence, become more common it is time to ask what it will take for the world to finally tackle climate change. Encouragingly, there may be a historical precedent: Victoria London’s handling of the ‘Great Stink’, where growth had turned the River Thames into an open sewer.
EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
As climate extremes mount, let’s reflect on Victorian London’s ‘Great Stink’ sewage crisis - when things finally became so bad authorities were forced to accept evidence, reject sceptics, and act.
Firefighters and volunteers battle a blaze near Loutraki in southern Greece.
Vassilis Psomas/EPA
Andrew King, The University of Melbourne and Ben Henley, The University of Melbourne
From Greece, to the UK, to Japan and even Sweden, a slew of places in the Northern Hemisphere are suffering extreme heat. And the chances of extreme heat records tumbling are growing all the time.
It was a hot year for many Australians.
ABCNews/David McMeekin
An annual assessment of the health of Australia’s environment shows mostly stable conditions in 2017, but ecosystems on land and at sea suffered ever higher temperatures.
Our climate is going to get warmer, and we need to protect ourselves from heat-related illness.
from shutterstock.com
Heatstroke is a medical emergency and often kills. But there are many processes in the body that occur between being exposed to heat and ending up in the ED – and warning signs to look out for too.
Tennis Australia recommends suspending play when the “wet bulb globe temperature”, which accounts for sun, air temperature and humidity, exceeds 34°C.
AAP/Lucas Koch
More and more research shows that we are likely to pass the 2 degree Celsius temperature limit much of the world has agreed on. Where did that limit come from, and what if we miss it?
Searching for respite from the heat in one of Rome’s fountains.
Max Roxxi/Reuters
Parts of Europe are having a devastatingly hot summer. Already we’ve seen heat records topple in western Europe in June, and now a heatwave nicknamed “Lucifer” is bringing stifling conditions to areas…