Summer months in Greater Sydney are getting hotter due to climate change.
It’s important for Council to know how heat patterns vary across the Willoughby local government area to inform its planning and operational activities and help the community withstand the impacts of extreme heat. The Bureau of Meteorology does not operate a weather station in the Lower North Shore area, so Council retained Western Sydney University to undertake a detailed study of heat during the 2023/2024 summer.
On 9 November 2023, the hottest day of that summer, a temperature of 46 degrees C was recorded in Chatswood West. Variations across the local government area during very hot days were as much as 17 degrees celsius, with eastern areas closest to Middle Harbour benefitting the most from cooling harbour breezes and extensive tree canopy.
The study shows a clear correlation between tree canopy cover and heat, with well canopied residential streets measuring up to 9 degrees celsius cooler compared to streets with low canopy cover. The most built-up areas of Willoughby, such as Chatswood, St Leonards and the Artarmon industrial area were consistently hotter than greener suburbs to the east, particularly at night.
(PDF, 69MB)
The study includes 39 actions for Council to help manage and reduce extreme heat impacts on the community. They include scaling up street tree planting in heat impacted areas with high levels of pedestrian activity (for example, around stations and bus stops), implementing best practise design and building controls to help reduce heat impacts on people and strengthening measures to conserve and extend tree canopy across the local government area.
One of the 5 case studies in the report shows that over 3 days during the hottest week of summer, temperatures on Edward Street, South Willoughby (with 20% canopy) were 8 degrees celsius higher than at nearby Sanders Park and two adjacent car parks (with 90% canopy), located only 200 metres away. Council is implementing the Edward and Penshurst Street South Streetscape Improvement Project to calm traffic and make the street a greener, cooler and more pleasant environment for pedestrians and cyclists.
Edward Street local heat study(PDF, 1MB)