Factsheet 12: Extreme temperature

The Queensland Future Climate Dashboard and Regional Explorer include the following extreme high temperature indices:

• Hot days: The number of days with maximum temperature over 35°C
• Hot nights: The number of nights with minimum temperature over 20°C
• Very hot days: The number of days with maximum temperature over 40°C
• Warm spells: The number of warm spell days within a season/year, where warm spell is defined as a spell of at least 4 consecutive days with temperatures above the 90th percentile of temperatures within that season during the calibration period (1981 - 2010)

These indices are relevant to human health, as hot days and hot nights can increase the chance of heat stress and heat-related illnesses. Consecutive hot days can also be damaging to human health. The risk to human health from prolonged high temperatures also increases pressures on medical services.

High temperatures can also be damaging to agriculture and livestock, and if the temperature is too high for too long, it can damage crops or reduce yield.

Very hot weather can also damage infrastructure, including roads, railways, and cause issues for aircraft.

For extreme cold temperature indices, we have the following available on the Dashboard and Regional Explorer:

• Cold nights: the number of nights with a minimum temperature &lt 5°C.
• Cold spells: The number of cold spell days within a season/year, where cold spell is defined as a spell of at least 4 consecutive days with temperatures below the 10th percentile of temperatures within that season during the calibration period (1981 - 2010).

Cold nights can be damaging to agriculture, with low temperatures able to damage or kill crops. Cold weather can also cause health problems in people, particularly for vulnerable populations such as the elderly or those already suffering from illness.

The Queensland Future Climate Science Program has used state-of-the-art high-resolution downscaled climate simulations from both CMIP5 and CMIP6 global climate models to assess the impact of climate change on extreme temperatures.

The main tools for viewing climate projections data on the Queensland Future Climate website are the Queensland Future Climate Dashboard and Regional Explorer. Please refer to the user guide for detailed information on how to access and interpret information available from these resources.

Examples of the information on extreme temperature available on the Queensland Future Climate Dashboard and Regional Explorer are shown below.