Overview
- Southern and south‑eastern Australia are in their most severe heatwave since the 2019–20 Black Summer, with temperatures topping 40°C and renewed warnings for outdoor activity.
- Sports Medicine Australia and the University of Sydney are promoting a Sports Heat Tool that uses your sport and postcode with live Bureau of Meteorology data to deliver colour‑coded risk ratings across hourly forecasts for seven days.
- Experts stress that risk is driven by more than air temperature, with humidity, radiant solar load and wind affecting how the body cools, and they note older adults and people with health conditions face higher risk.
- The American College of Sports Medicine advises that intermittent sports with breaks are tolerable in hotter conditions than continuous endurance exercise because pauses allow cooling.
- Recommended precautions include drinking at least 500 millilitres of water in the hour before exercise, continuing to sip fluids, training early or late rather than 10am–3pm, wearing light breathable clothing, stopping if dizzy or nauseous, and seeking urgent help for slurred speech or loss of consciousness.