Dealing with extreme heat
During periods of extreme heat, it's important to adapt our behaviours to prevent heat stress. Some groups are more vulnerable to stressors, and exposure to extreme heat can cause heat exhaustion, heat stroke and sometimes death.
Top tips for reducing heat stress
- Plan activities for the coolest part of the day or reschedule for another date.
- Never leave children, older people or pets in cars.
- Eat smaller meals more often, and cold meals such as salad.
- Dress for the heat by wearing lightweight clothing and sunscreen External link for skin protection.
- Slow down and avoid intense activity before, during and after a heatwave, as it can take the body three days to recover.
- Seek shade, apply sunscreen and take regular breaks if outdoors.
- Drink cool water regularly, even if you're not thirsty.
- Avoid alcohol and caffeinated drinks as these have a dehydrating effect.
Read on for additional tips for keeping yourself and others safe during a heat event.
Look out for each other
Check in on others regularly, particularly those most at risk – your neighbour living alone, older people, people with a disability, young people, people with a medical condition and pregnant or nursing mothers. Visit the Better Health Channel External link for more information.
If you take medication, be sure to store it in a cool environment and follow the storage instructions on the packet. If in doubt, ask your doctor.
Hot weather can also affect your mood and contribute to feelings of loneliness. It is important to stay connected during this time and reach out to your loved ones. For more information on increasing connection in a heatwave visit resources to help you External link.
For free, confidential mental health support, contact:
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
- Lifeline: 13 11 14
Heatwave essentials and power outages
Power failure External link can happen during times of extreme heat. To help prepare for heatwaves and power outages, create a heatwave kit at home by gathering the following essentials:
- Ensure you have a torch, battery-operated radio, fully charged mobile phone or battery back-up
- Cooling items, such as battery-operated or handheld fan, ice packs, cooling towels and a spray bottle to help you stay cool.
- An adequate amount of water and non-perishable food items that require no cooking or refrigeration to last you three days.
- Medication and first aid kit; keep a one-month supply of prescription medications and other medical supplies. Have a cool-box available to store ice or cool packs with medications.
- Know where the closest cool place is to your home, if your home gets hot and you need some respite.
- Emergency contact numbers of people who can assist you if it’s not safe to stay in your home.
Protect your pets
Make sure your pets have clean, cool water and shade (if outdoors). You can also:
- Freeze ice blocks with pet food in it to keep your pets cool.
- Keep your pets indoors where possible.
- Provide wet towels or ice packs for your pets to lie on.
- Put ice cubes into their water bowls.
Avoid walking on pavement on hot days. If the ground is too hot to rest the back of your hand against, it is too hot for their paws. For the health of both you and your pet, try to only walk them during the early morning or early evening.
It is illegal to leave an animal unattended inside a car for more than 10 minutes when the temperature is 28°C or higher. Animals locked in cars can quickly suffer heat exhaustion or die — even if the windows are down or the car is parked in the shade. If you see a pet in a hot car, call 000 External link immediately.
For more information:
Staying cool at home
- You don't need to cool your whole home during high heat. If you have access to an air conditioner or fan, you can use them in the rooms you spend the most time in.
- Keep the windows closed and covered to reduce the heat from sunlight.
- If the temperature drops at night, consider leaving your windows open to let cool air in.
- Reduce the use of your oven during a heatwave, as they can heat up your home.
- Keep yourself cool by using wet towels on your neck, putting your feet in cold water, and taking cool showers.
- If your property is too hot to comfortably reside in, seek shelter at a cool place.
Summer Sense fact sheets have practical tips for preparing for and staying safe during extreme heat days:
How to stay cool in the city
Cool Places map
Our cool places interactive map will help you find where in Melbourne to spend time in on hot days, where our free water fountains are located and where there are trees providing shade. Use the filters to find places that meet your needs, such as free entry, car parks and access to open space.
Learn tips and tools to stay healthy, hydrated and cool over the summer months. For more information about how to stay safe during hot weather and heatwaves, where to go to stay cool on extremely hot days, and to pick up a free Heat Health kit, visit one of the Heat Smart sessions at our libraries.
Library sessions
| Library | Address | Time | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| narrm ngarrgu Library | 141 Therry Street Melbourne VIC 3000 | 11am to 2pm | Thursday 15 January |
| Library at the Dock | 107 Victoria Harbour Promenade Docklands VIC 3008 | 11am to 2pm | Thursday 22 January |
| Kathleen Syme Library | 251 Faraday Street Carlton VIC 3053 | 11am to 2pm | Thursday 29 January |
| North Melbourne Library | 66 Errol Street North Melbourne VIC 3051 | 11am to 2pm | Thursday 5 February |
We are funding five community organisations across the city to operate as Cool Places during severe or extreme heatwaves in Melbourne.
The Cool Places are open to all community members and residents, offering air-conditioned spaces, snacks, drinks and activities. Everyone welcome.
- Kensington Neighbourhood House External link, Kensington
- Carlton Neighbourhood and Learning Centre, External link Carlton
- Salvation Army Project 614 External link, CBD
- West Melbourne Baptist Church and Community Centre External link, West Melbourne
- The Venny External link (Kensington Adventure Playground), Kensington
In addition to these places, North Melbourne Community Centre External link will be providing heat relief for community members. Check out our List of Cool Places for City of Melbourne facilities that also give respite from the heat.
We’ve created neighbourhood-specific maps that have been translated into the top five most common languages in each neighbourhood. Find your neighbourhood below – you can print out your map and bring it with you on the go.
Download this useful information or print it out and give one to someone who may be vulnerable to extreme heat events.
Drinking water is vital during hot weather. There are many free bubbler drinking fountains as well as more than 60 drinking fountains fitted with water bottle refill taps across the city, as part of a joint initiative between VicHealth and the City of Melbourne.
Check our interactive drinking fountains map External link and download the list of locations below, or visit Choose Tap External link to find the nearest water station when you are out and about.
Cool Routes External link is an online mapping tool you can use on your smartphone to plot the coolest route to your destination in the CBD, Southbank and City North.
It considers the time of day, city architecture and surroundings to give the best walking or cycling route protected from the sun and heat.
What happens during a heatwave?
In Victoria, a heatwave is a period of unusual and uncomfortable hot weather that could negatively affect human health, and community infrastructure (such as the power supply and public transport) and services. (Heat Health Plan for Victoria 2015)
The Bureau of Meteorology's (BoM) Heatwave service for Australia External link issues heatwave warnings when 10 per cent or more of a weather district is forecast to experience a severe or extreme heatwave. The metric for heatwaves is the Excess Heat Factor. It is based on three days of unusually high maximum and minimum temperatures for a location. Heatwaves are categorised into three levels: low-intensity, severe and extreme.
When BoM issues a heatwave warning, this triggers the Department of Health to issue a heat health warning to a number of organisations, including local governments. The Chief Health Officer may also do this when there are forecasted high temperatures of concern.
When the City of Melbourne receives a heat health warning, this triggers our Heat Health Alert Activation Sub Plan. The plan includes notifying service providers, agencies and established community group organisations that interact with people who may be vulnerable to heat-related illnesses when a heat health alert has been issued. We will also post updates on the City of Melbourne social media channels.
You can also subscribe to receive heat health warning alerts External link via email from the Department of Health.
Consider setting up an emergency 'watch zone' for your work or home area on the Vic Emergency website External link to be notified of emergencies, including for extreme heat and heatwaves that occur in your area.
More City of Melbourne projects
Dedicated outreach officers work alongside community partners in homelessness and health outreach to support highly vulnerable people across the municipality. They provide heat-relief packs and other direct assistance, referrals to services, and information on accessing cool and safe places during extreme weather. These resources help reduce the effects of extreme heat on people who are experiencing homelessness.
The City of Melbourne received funding from Emergency Management Victoria to run ‘The Heat Lab’. This twelve-month project trialled community-focused and place-based initiatives to address heat risk over the 2023-2024 summer period.
These included:
- provision of 1255 cool kits
- distribution of information via 4000 heat safe brochures, 11 heat smart sessions and over 435,000 social media impressions
- surface treatment and shading infrastructure trials
- trial of HeatSens, a heat risk platform to aid council operations
- provision of ten ‘Cool Places’ for community members and;
- The Adaptation Game and artistic programming engaging approximately 1000 people.
This pilot was delivered through combining council, business, public health and community leader expertise. The Heat Lab underwent a full evaluation and the findings can be found in the 'Heat Lab Evaluation Report'. Successful outcomes from the project will inform the expansion of City of Melbourne heat projects and programs for next and future summers.
In partnership with the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center External link (Arsht-Rock) the City of Melbourne has appointed Co-Directors Climate Change and City Resilience, Tiffany Crawford and Krista Milne, to the roles of Chief Heat Officers.
Established through Arsht-Rock's City Champions for Heat Action initiative, the position will raise awareness about extreme heat risk, provide local leadership and collaborate to deliver solutions.
You can learn more about the Chief Heat Officers. External link
The City of Melbourne is also partnering with Climasens – a leading Melbourne-based climate intelligence startup – to test a heat risk platform, which maps heat hazards and aims to boost the city’s climate resilience.
The new technology uses live weather and climate data to identify real-time heat risk insights, including heat exposure and social vulnerability. The trial aims to develop a solution to heat monitoring and management, helping us protect those who are most vulnerable during a heatwave, and provide evidence to improve climate resilience planning and investment decisions.
For more information, visit Climasens External link
Extreme heat days and heatwaves have significant economic and health impacts on the city. During extreme heat events we can experience increases in heat-related illness, power outages, and disruption to transport services and outdoor events. These impacts both directly and indirectly impact businesses in the City of Melbourne.
In March 2024, City of Melbourne experienced a heatwave that is an example of the kind of event Melbourne is expected to experience more frequently in the future due to climate change. Quantifying the impacts of such events when they happen is vital to predicting the future financial and operational effects increased heatwaves may have on Melbourne.
To understand the economic impact this heatwave had on local businesses the City of Melbourne commissioned research to analyse operational data and survey local businesses. A summary of the findings is provided in the research report:
More information
- To find indoor events in the city, visit What’s On External link
- Department of Health: External link
- Understanding Heatwave Warnings External link – Bureau of Meteorology YouTube video
- Better Health Channel:
- Red Cross Emergency Services in Australia External link – Advice and guidelines on preparing for emergencies. Follow on X: @redcrossau External link
- Safe Work Australia – Working in the heat External link – Advice and guidelines on managing the risk of working in heat
- VicEmergency External link
- HeatWatch External link - The HeatWatch website allows you to quickly calculate a personalised heat stress risk score and provide evidence-based cooling recommendations.
