Days where the temperature exceeds 50 degree are being predicted for the Australia’s largest cities within 10 years – even if the Paris accord succeeds in capping the rise in average global temperature to two degrees above pre-industrial levels.

A study led by the Australian National University projects daily temperatures of up to 3.8 degrees above existing records for Victoria and NSW.

“Major Australian cities such as Sydney and Melbourne may experience unprecedented temperatures of 50 degrees under two degrees of global warming,” lead researcher Sophie Lewis said.

“The increase in Australian summer temperatures indicates other major cities should also be prepared for unprecedented future extreme heat.

“One of the hottest years on record globally, in 2015, could be an average year by 2025.”

Co-researcher Andrew King, from the University of Melbourne, says the study team used a combination of observations and modelling.

“Previous scientific studies have focused on how current temperature extremes have been impacted by climate change, or on how the frequency of these current extremes will change in the future,” Dr King said.

“This study takes a different approach and examines how the severity of future temperature extremes might change in the future.”