Heatwaves are defined as unusually high temperature events that occur for at least three consecutive days with major impacts to human health, economy, agriculture and ecosystems. This dataset provides time-series of heatwave characteristics such as peak temperature, number of events, frequency and duration from 1950 to 2016 in Australia. The analysis were based on daily minimum and maximum temperature obtained from the Australian Water Availability Project (AWAP). The data is available as spatial time-series (5km grid-cell) and aggregated time-series for all Local Government Areas in Australia.

Dynamically downscaled high-resolution (~10 km spatial resolution) climate change projection data for Queensland. Downscaling was completed using CSIRO Conformal Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) for two RCPs (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) from 11 CMIP5 global coarse resolution models for period 1980-2099. The Queensland Future Climate Dashboard (www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/qld-future-climate/ ) provides easy access to climate projection for Queensland. The dashboard allows users to explore, visualize and download the latest high-resolution climate modelling data for specific regions, catchments, disaster areas, local government areas and grid squares. Underlying data is provided via TERN for easy access for each of 11 downscaled models. The Queensland Future Climate Dataset provides high resolution data for over 30 different metrics grouped in six climate themes: (i) Mean Climate; (ii) Heatwaves; (iii) Extreme Temperature Indices; (iv) Extreme Precipitation Indices; (v) Droughts; and (vi) Floods. In addition selected variables at daily and monthly intervals are also available.