Staying healthy in the heat
Heat health warnings
The Department of Health use the Bureau's severe and extreme heatwave warnings and will issue a heat health warning (formerly a heat health alert). A heat health warning notifies the community, local governments, hospitals, health and community services of the risk and likely impact on people's health. The Chief Health Officer may also issue a heat health warning when they consider forecast temperatures pose a health risk, for example, a single day of extremely high temperatures.
Communities in Loddon Shire are located in the Northern Country weather forecast district.
You can access their webpage HERE
Receiving heat health warnings
Heat health warnings are available from the Department of Health email subscription service. To subscribe to receive heat health warnings, and other emergency advice (such as thunderstorm asthma and cold weather warnings), go to the Department's subscription webpage.
How the Bureau of Meteorology classify heatwaves
They use the excess heat factor in Australian heatwave monitoring and forecasting. Using this index, they classify heatwaves by intensity. The excess heat factor combines:
- a comparison of the average temperatures for a 3-day period with what would be considered hot at that location
- the observed temperatures at that location over the past 30 days.
In simple terms, the excess heat factor measures how much of a shock to the body the forecast temperatures will be, compared to the weather over the past month.
The Bureau uses three heatwave categories based on intensity:
- Low-intensity heatwaves - Most people can cope
- Severe heatwaves - Vulnerable people at risk
- Extreme heatwaves - Everyone is at risk, even people who are healthy
View the video below for more information on these categories and how the Bureau calculates the heatwave forecast.