As a climate scientist, I know heatwaves in Australia will only get worse. We need to start preparing now | Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick

During black summer, my daughters were too young to know what was happening. Now, amid another Australian heatwave, they deserve answers

When the forecasts for this week started to roll in, my mind immediately drifted back to Australia's black summer.

I had taken my daughters down to the pool in our estate in western Sydney, hoping for a brief reprieve from the relentless heat. The Gospers Mountain fire was raging in the Blue Mountains, but on that particular day the smoke didn't seem too bad.