While we can expect some relief with the cooler months of autumn and winter, it’s now clear that hotter springs, longer summers and more intense heat waves are now the norm.

President of Climate Change Australia, Harry Creamer, said 2016 was the hottest year ever globally, surpassing 2015 and before that 2014, and the fourth-hottest year on record for Australia.  Of the 16 hottest years ever recorded, 15 have happened this century - the warming trend is unmistakable.

“Climate models show that these record hot years are undoubtedly the result of human-induced climate change.  The number of days per year over 35°C has increased and the number of record hot days across Australia has doubled since 1960,” Mr Creamer said.

“While heatwaves have always been a feature of our summers, it’s clear that since the 1950s heatwaves have changed - they are becoming hotter, lasting longer, occurring more often and starting earlier.  This January was the hottest calendar month ever recorded in Sydney.

“Importantly, average minimum overnight temperatures are increasing summer after summer so that sleep is disturbed and frail and aged people are at greater health risk.”

Mr Creamer said global warming is increasing the risk of heatwaves. 

This isn’t something our grandchildren may experience in the distant future – it’s happening to us, now.  Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity we have ever faced, he said.

Of course, heatwaves have happened in the past, the climate group concedes, but it’s faulty logic to suggest that this means they’re not increasing now, or that it’s not our fault by causing climate change.  All extreme heat events are now occurring in an atmosphere that is much hotter than 50 years ago, he said.

“A study by Monash University concluded that since 1990, extra heat from the sun now becoming trapped in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, is equivalent to four Hiroshima-size atomic bombs exploding every second,” the local branch of Climate Change Australia said.

“The reason we are not living in a permanent heatwave is that 90% of this heat is going into the oceans.  To compare, the record-breaking 2009 Victorian bush fires were equal to two Hiroshima bombs in total.

“Carbon emissions must be reduced rapidly and deeply if the worst of extreme heat in the second half of the century is to be avoided. 

“Neither the federal nor the state government is doing anywhere near enough to tackle this problem.  As a consequence of this lack of action, we will pay more for higher health, insurance, infrastructure and energy costs,” he said.

Mr Creamer said research showing the influence of global warming on heat events strengthens the case for action on climate change. 

Carbon emissions must be reduced rapidly and deeply if the worst consequences of extreme heat in the coming decades are to be avoided, he says.  Neither federal nor state governments are doing anywhere near enough to tackle this problem, and we will all pay for it.

“The economic and social costs of extreme heat events are significant.  Research by Charles Darwin University shows that heat stress already costs the Australian economy A$7 billion each year through productivity losses.

“Heatwaves are a silent killer, taking the lives of more people than cyclones, bushfires or other natural hazards.  Yet they rarely get the attention they deserve.  Deaths are usually suffered alone and it’s those living alone, overweight or elderly people in older, poorly insulated houses who suffer most.

“We all have two options - ignore the risks of increasing heat extremes and suffer the consequences, or step up to the challenge and tackle climate change.  This includes banning new coal mines, phasing out coal power, and taking advantage of our massive clean and natural energy sources – the sun, the wind and geothermal.

“Both federal and state governments must be urged to accept the link between climate change and burning fossil fuels, and take effective action that gets us to zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2032.”