When the sun beats down, tempers can flare. We explore why the 2026 heatwave has us all feeling a little more short-fused than usual.

It’s been a scorcher of a summer so far, and while we all love the clear skies, the rising mercury and heat seems to have a funny way of shrinking our patience. Science back it up, too—as the temperature climbs, our internal “simmer” point drops. Suddenly, those tiny inconveniences that we’d usually laugh off start to feel like a much bigger deal.

Around our region, those summer frustrations tend to show up in familiar ways. We’ve all been there: stuck in a slow-moving crawl behind a line of campervans on the State Highway, or finally arriving at the lake only to find a bit of a “situation” at the boat ramp. Even the usual hunt for a shady park near the river or the local swimming hole can feel like a mission when the car’s thermometer is hitting the high twenties.

When the sun’s been beating down all day, it’s easy to feel a bit “done.” We’re hot, we’re tired, and we’re all just keen to get to the water.

It’s usually in those moments—waiting for a trailer to back in or sitting in the glare of the afternoon sun—that a deep breath and a cold bottle of water go a long way. Most of us are in the same boat (sometimes literally!), just trying to make the most of the season. A little bit of shared patience and remembering that the person in front of you is likely just as sweltering as you are can be enough to take the sting out of the heat.