To help Australians better prepare for the nation’s most dangerous environmental hazard, the Bureau of Meteorology has this week launched a new national heatwave warning service.

Heatwaves result in more community deaths than bushfires, floods, cyclones, and severe storms combined, the Bureau says.

The new heatwave warning service will provide an alert through the BOM Weather app and Bureau website that a heat hazard is forecast within the coming four days, helping Australians to prepare for and lessen the impacts of a heatwave events.

The release follows a successful trial with partner health and emergency service agencies. The trial showed that the new warning service assisted partner agencies to provide timely information of the health risks of the extreme heat and helped to ensure health departments were better equipped to assist those vulnerable to heatstroke.

The alerts will include heatwave warnings issued by the Bureau along with five sets of action statements aligned to heatwave severity, agreed with by partner health and emergency service agencies across Australia.

In the event of a heatwave, heatwave warnings will be issued by the Bureau through the BOM Weather app and Bureau website, as well as media and social media, with health messages relating to heat provided by state and territory agencies.

A heatwave occurs when the maximum and the minimum temperatures are unusually hot over a three-day period at a location. This is considered in relation to the local climate and past weather at the location.

For more information on heatwaves, visit the Bureau’s heatwave knowledge centre Heatwave Service for Australia (bom.gov.au).

Communities are encouraged to stay up to date with latest forecasts and warnings through the Bureau website or the BOM Weather app. To receive notifications through the app, users should visit the notifications section of the menu and enable notifications, to ensure they are receiving the forecast and warning information they need when it matters most.

For more information on the Bureau’s heatwave products, visit www.bom.gov.au

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