Even In A "Sunburnt Country", Australia Reeling From This Summer's Record Heat And Fire Season
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In the first week of January, the country’s south-east experienced the most significant heatwave since the 2019-20 “black summer”. Major cities sweltered: it reached 41C (106F) in Melbourne and 43C in Adelaide. In other parts of the country, the mercury climbed north of 45C. The hot, dry weather was ripe for fanning flames. On 9 January, in conditions rated as “catastrophic”, crews attended almost 200 fires in the southern state of Victoria. Volunteer firefighters in the towns of Longwood and Harcourt fought flames that would eventually raze their own homes. Some of the blazes would burn for more than a month before being brought under control.
In Victoria, the state’s all-time heat record was broken at two locations, reaching 48.9C. In Melbourne, where I live, parts of the city hit 45C. Stepping outside on that day, 27 January, felt – and I don’t use this word lightly – apocalyptic. The air was smothering, suffocating – like blasting one’s eyes and open mouth with a hairdryer. The heat was searing, especially in direct sunlight (where temperatures can reach up to 15C higher than official observations).
We know there are biological limits to what the body can withstand. In Australia, extreme heat is the most common cause of weather-related hospitalisations, and kills more people than all other natural hazards combined. Despite the oppressive temperatures, major sporting events such as the Australian Open continued, albeit with extreme heat protocols in place. It raises the question: how feasible will it be to continue holding such events in summer, given the escalating frequency and severity of extremes due to global heating?
Though the season is not yet over, an accounting of this summer’s costs has begun. Across Victoria, 435,000 hectares (1m acres) of land have burned, destroying more than 900 structures. Analysis, using data from the Insurance Council of Australia, has found that fires, floods, heatwaves and storms have resulted in about $1.6bn (£833m) in insured losses this summer so far. (I neglected to mention earlier that between the heat and fires, there were also: seven cyclones; flooding in several states, including flood waters that swept cars out to sea in Victoria; and an algal bloom along the South Australian coast, which has persisted for nearly a year.)
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/19/australia-heatwave-bushfires-climate-crisis-fossil-fuels