Heatwaves

While the mercury reached almost 50C in parts of Australia this week, Tasmania is enduring its own heatwave — albeit at a far less ferocious temperature — and it has brought the worst fire conditions of the summer.

Tim Franklin, a 40-year-old former lawyer sometimes referred to as Australia's Forrest Gump, has just celebrated his 20,000-kilometre milestone in Western Australia, as he nears the end of a life-changing around-the-world run.

Western Australia is again enduring extreme weather, with a heatwave gripping the middle and south of the state and a 'high risk' a cyclone will form up north.

This northern WA region has already experienced three heatwaves, and meteorologists say it's just getting warmer.

Thousands of construction workers gather outside state parliament to demand the resignation of Industrial Minister Grace Grace amid ongoing concerns about heat stress on worksites.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicts a third heatwave for Perth in as many weeks, with the city breaking its record for the most days over 40 degrees Celsius in the month.

Ground temperatures in parts of Brisbane can exceed 70C and that is destined to get worse without a new approach to urban design, planners say.

Gary Paul would like a knock at his door next time the power is cut during a heatwave. Left sweltering and unassisted through last month's heatwave, the Kalgoorlie resident who is legally blind, says a public register of people in need of welfare checks is an idea worth pursuing.

Loy Yang A, one of Victoria's three remaining coal-fired power stations, is offline and storms are affecting electrical infrastructure, leaving half a million customers without power.

Susan Jones fears her stiflingly hot social housing that does not have air-conditioning will put her life at risk if heatwaves continue to affect the state.

More than 85 per cent of Australians live within 50 kilometres of the ocean, but the variation in weather across any slice of this narrow coastal band is substantial.

Some of Western Australia's most vulnerable teenagers are sweltering through Perth's heatwave without air conditioning in a converted adult prison unit.

As Perth and parts of Western Australia swelter through a second heatwave in as many weeks, data shows hot weather has left almost five times more people in hospital than bushfires in recent years.

More scorching hot weather is on the cards for Perth, just days after another heatwave broke weather records across Western Australia.

Swimmers are being warned to stay away from one of Victoria's busiest beaches and a popular High Country waterhole as extreme heat grips the state.

Amid the worst drought on record in the Gascoyne, the impacts of extreme heat is being felt by people and wildlife alike, with emus digging up town pipelines and putting holes in them for a drink.

A burst of hot northerly winds will bring the highest temperatures in years to parts of south-east Australia, while ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily carves a trail of torrential rain and flooding.

Sixty-eight-year-old Suellyn Lott's Sunshine Coast apartment complex was officially opened less than 12 months ago, but she says living there is unbearable when the temperature spikes.

The heat peaked before it even hit midday for many spots around metropolitan Perth, with scorching mid-40 degree temperatures experienced across the city.

Queensland’s state-owned power grid quietly forced almost 170,000 air-conditioners in homes and businesses into low-power mode six times over summer.

Heatwaves cause the deaths of more people in Australia than any other natural disaster, and researchers are pleading for action.

The dew point in some parts of the south-east of Queensland has tipped to 26C, exceeding that of equatorial countries like Singapore.

Temperatures are set to soar across WA this week as the state plunges into another heatwave, and while we may feel like having a grumble, the weather bureau says it's just a "fairly average" summer in the west.

Australia's most dominant climate driver, La Niña, has a strong chance of reappearing in 2024, shifting the odds to favour a wet year.

Queensland can expect more wet weather this week, combined with sticky heat, after a recent spate of record-breaking minimum overnight lows.