THE extreme heat will return to the region this weekend and local medicos have urged festival-goers and the wider North West region to take care.
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Weatherzone is tipping thermometers will top-out at 39 degrees this Saturday and Sunday, with only a slim chance of rain over the weekend.
With a long weekend coming up, including Australia Day celebrations and the culmination of the Tamworth Country Music Festival, doctors are hoping most people will be responsible enough to avoid a trip to the emergency department.
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Top temperatures in Tamworth have been more than five degrees above average throughout January and the nights have offered little reprieve.
While the Hunter New England Local Health District was been pleased to report no drastic increase in presentations thanks to heat-related illnesses, population health doctor Peter Massey said the Tamworth ED had still been hectic.
“The ED is usually busy at this time of year,” Dr Massey said.
“But it has been at, or just below, expected levels.
“There has only been a small number of people presenting with dehydration.”
Dr Massey said the people who had been treated for dehydration had included children, elderly and working age adults and urged caution for the days ahead.
“People have been heeding the warning about the heat, but we’d still encourage the community to look out for each other,” he said.
“We’d urge people to avoid the hottest part of the day.
“And we’d would remind visitors the hottest part of the day goes through from lunch to the evening.
“Try to find shade and try to drink 1.5 to two litres of water, or more, a day.”
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued its own warning this week and forecast a “high intensity heatwave” would blanket most of the state with the worst impacts to be felt on January 26.
“Western NSW will see most locations hit the mid 40s, and some go higher,” BOM manager of NSW/ACT weather services Jane Golding said.
“We saw clearly from last week’s heatwave the impacts of this sort of weather on peoples’ health, when you combine that with a weekend of major outdoor events and the last long weekend for a while there is reason for some concern.”
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
