Sydney’s west on frontline for most extreme heat and biggest health risks – but inner city faces water threat

Blacktown and the outer west are among Sydney’s most exposed suburbs during ever-hotter summers, the national climate risk assessment says. Composite: Jessica Hromas/Carly Earl/Guardian design

Bud Moses is all too aware of the longer, hotter summers impacting his community in Sydney’s west.

As black summer bushfires raged on 4 January 2020, Penrith was sweltering in temperatures of 48.9C, making it the hottest place on the planet that day. It was just one of a growing number of above-40C days Moses has witnessed in recent years.