{"id":624484,"date":"2026-03-01T11:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/624484\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T11:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:44:20","slug":"bowling-greens-unbelievable-86c-temperature-highlights-need-for-urban-heat-mitigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/624484\/","title":{"rendered":"Bowling green’s ‘unbelievable’ 86C temperature highlights need for urban heat mitigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Avid lawn bowls player Ian Von Stanke regularly hits the greens during summer and knows how scorching the surface temperature of the green can be.<\/p>\n

“When you’re out there, the heat in the bottom of your shoes is unbelievable,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Von Stanke plays bowls in and around Mount Gambier in South Australia, and is not surprised by the 80-plus-degree temperatures that have been recorded by emergency services recently.<\/p>\n

“It’s the heat that generates up from the carpet up into your face that is the killer,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Thermal imaging at the Mount Gambier Bowls Club shows how hot common surfaces get on a 40C day. (Supplied: SA SES)<\/p>\n

The South Australian State Emergency Service (SES) deployed a drone with thermal imaging capabilities over Mount Gambier on a hot day in January to record the temperature of common surfaces.<\/p>\n

The temperature of the green measured by the SES was 86.75 degrees Celsius, more than double the air temperature on a 40C day.<\/p>\n

A unique angle to see heat<\/p>\n

South Australian SES chief remote pilot Brad Flew was undertaking a routine drone test flight when he decided to test out its thermal imaging capabilities.<\/p>\n

“It was an opportunity to use drones in the heat and actually test their capabilities,” Mr Flew said.<\/p>\n

“It gave us some really interesting insights into \u2026 the surface temperatures.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brad Flew says he was surprised to see some surfaces measure double the official temperature. (ABC South East SA: Samuel O’Brien)<\/p>\n

While warnings about hot footpaths and roads are common in summer, Mr Flew said the use of drones meant a wider variety of surfaces could be measured.<\/p>\n

“To actually see how broad that temperature was, even on things like astroturf or fake grass through the concrete and bitumen [was surprising],” Mr Flew said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Even during cooler parts of the day, synthetic fields regularly reach extreme temperatures. (Supplied: SA SES)<\/p>\n

The phenomenon is known as urban heating, in which surfaces absorb heat, making communities much warmer than the actual temperature.<\/p>\n

Mr Von Stanke said that, even on cooler days, it could be unbearable for players to compete on the greens, forcing many to find innovative ways to beat the heat.<\/p>\n

“I usually have a bowls rag that I wet and put underneath my hat; I do it every second end,” Mr Von Stanke said.<\/p>\n

“I get wine casks and I cut the liners out of them and put the silver side down [inside my shoes] so it reflects the heat.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Ian Von Stanke is a regular player at Mount Gambier Bowls Club. (ABC South East SA: Samuel O’Brien)<\/p>\n

Mr Von Stanke has been pushing for more localised heat policies for bowls competitions on the Limestone Coast.<\/p>\n

Currently, bowls pennants are called off if the predicted temperature is forecast to reach 37C in Naracoorte, an hour’s drive north of Mount Gambier.<\/p>\n

“There is no heat rule for tournaments \u2026 there is only a rule for pennants,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

“We played a tournament the other day and three or four [players] went down.”<\/p>\n

An issue for growing towns<\/p>\n

While areas like western Sydney often feature in headlines about urban heat problems, growing regional cities like Mount Gambier are just as susceptible to their impacts.<\/p>\n

Your Say: Tell us what matters to you this SA election<\/a><\/p>\n

We want to know what issues matter most to you and what you want us to find out ahead of the March 21, SA election.<\/p>\n

Western Sydney University postdoctoral research fellow in urban microclimates Paul Cheung said common surfaces such as concrete and bitumen stored more heat than plants and grass.<\/p>\n

“Not only do those non-living surfaces absorb more sunlight than transpiring, living surfaces like grass, they also do not absorb any water,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

“Grass and trees can transpire and use the water [they absorb] to cool down the community.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Large trees at Vansittart Park provide shade to parts the Mount Gambier Bowls Club. (ABC South East SA: Samuel O’Brien)<\/p>\n

University of Technology Sydney professor of social design Abby Mellick Lopes said planning rules and requirements were influential to how communities coped with hot temperatures.<\/p>\n

“We still design European houses and they’re not appropriate for our climate,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

“The best way to combat heat \u2026 is through shade trees.<\/p>\n

“You can see [in the SES images] the vast difference between where there is tree canopy and where there isn’t.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Avid lawn bowls player Ian Von Stanke regularly hits the greens during summer and knows how scorching the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":624485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[66822,5247,746,124256,1171,159,70365,266880,149068,67,132,266879,266878,68],"class_list":["post-624484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bowls","tag-drone","tag-environment","tag-heat-mitigation","tag-heatwave","tag-science","tag-ses","tag-surface-temperature","tag-thermal-imaging","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-urban-heat","tag-urban-heating","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116153749821527107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}