Do heat alerts save lives?

Abstract

Short-term heat events (e.g. heat waves) and cold events cause more loss of life in Australia than any other weather or climate extreme. They are also, relative to other extremes, easier to predict, exhibit larger spatial scales and thus affect more people, and responses that can reduce the excess mortality associated with them are better understood and more readily actionable. There is evidence that the heat-event alert system introduced in Victoria in 2009, and subsequently enhanced, saves lives. Improving and further enhancing heat-alert systems will reduce the costs, both human and financial, associated with heat events. This paper discusses whether a cold alert system is required, along with the possible reasons why the excess mortality after a hot event is of shorter duration than after a cold event, and why winter mortality typically exceeds summer mortality even for similar temperatures.