Essay by Eric Worrall

A “record breaking” winter heatwave gripping Australia has likely saved householders millions of dollars in home heating costs. But apparently we shouldn’t look on the abrupt end of winter as a good thing.

Heatwave brings Australia’s winter weather to an abrupt end as climate change up-ends the seasons

By climate reporter Jess Davis

On Sunday afternoon, Australians across the country basked in the glorious winter sunshine.

The blossoms had sprung early, in Melbourne the footy was played in 24 degrees, and the ski fields mourned as heavy rain killed the remainder of another poor snow season.

…

And despite the start of winter feeling quite cold to many, that’s partly because our memories are short.

“It did feel quite cold to us because a lot of our other winters have been warm in the last 20 or so years,” Professor Perkins-Kirkpatrick said.

“The human experience, we generally only remember weather events or seasonal events up to eight years ago.

…

“To be honest, for most of us, it’s quite pleasant, a really nice change from cooler conditions,” Dr King said.

“But for spring or summer, if we get heat waves, of a similar kind of strength to what we’ve seen over the last week or so, or similar kind of level of unusualness, we would be really worried about those heat events.”

…

More than a thousand people died during the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia when temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius.

…Read more:

 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-29/winter-ends-with-heatwave-as-climate-change-upends-seasons/104279250

The old and infirm do suffer in heatwaves, just as they suffer in periods of extreme cold. But affordable coal or gas energy to power air-conditioning, or increasing winter fuel subsidies for retirees, would do far more to help infirm and elderly people on limited incomes, than wasting billions of dollars of government cash on wild schemes to nudge future temperatures by a fraction of a degree.

Home heating (and cooling) costs are a huge problem in Australia, especially in the colder, more climate obsessed southern states.

Almost half of Australians have gone cold this winter over power bill fears

By Emily McPherson • Senior Journalist 8:56am Aug 12, 2024

Millions of Australians have been shivering through this winter, avoiding using their heater over fears of how much it will cost, a new survey has revealed.

The new research, from comparison site Finder, found 1 in 8 Australians go without heating “all the time”, while a further 36 percent said they avoid using the heater as often as they can.

The findings, based on a survey of 1,049 respondents, mean almost half of Australians – or the equivalent of 4.9 million households – are living without adequate heating.

…Read more: 

https://www.9news.com.au/national/almost-half-of-australians-have-gone-cold-this-winter-over-power-bill-fears/adbbac4e-301b-459f-8f37-a20500b050d8

An extreme heatwave or cold wave is only a problem for the infirm if they are forced to endure its effects, say because they can’t afford to switch on the air conditioner.

For those who are not infirm, the kind of heat they are talking about is not a challenge, providing people stay properly hydrated.

When I was young, for a time I worked in a poorly ventilated plastics factory in Melbourne, Australia. The chemical process and leaky hydraulic hot presses released huge clouds of steam, so the environment was dripping wet. On the hottest days the thermometer on the factory floor reached 55C / 130F. Management patrolled the floor every 5 minutes, offering hydration drinks.

My grandpa told me he worked in similar conditions in a metal foundry in Melbourne in WW2, 18 hours per day building Artillery pieces for the war effort. His factory featured large molten pots of lead, continuously maintained at 660F for heat treating steel, so I’m guessing his factory floor was likely hotter than what I experienced.

The human body is adaptable. When my work day finished at 3pm, it was a memorable experience stepping out into blazing sunlight on a 110F day, and shivering uncontrollably with cold for 2 minutes as my body adjusted to the abrupt drop in temperature.

I’m sure people who work in bakeries and mines have similar experiences.

But you wouldn’t expect climate scientists who spend most of their lives in comfortable air conditioned offices to know any of this.