Adelaide tries to cool down after new climate change tool reveals sweltering forecast for 2050

South Australians have begun efforts to cool down their homes and suburbs after a new tool showed the chilling future of the state under the harsh effects of climate change.

The Bureau of Meteorology has developed My Climate View, an online instrument that charts each suburb to determine how many really hot days there will be in 2050.

It has revealed that extreme heatwaves will become more frequent in every Adelaide suburb, particularly in the north, with an additional six or seven days above 35 degrees each year.

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The bureau's Dr Lynette Bettio said the temperature has been warming up for some time and the threat of increased heatwaves was "very serious".

"Back in the 90s, here in Elizabeth, there were about 20 really hot days a year," she said.

"That's now up to 26 days. In another 50 years residents will be sweltering through 35 days above 35 degrees."

University of South Australia Professor of Environmental Mathematics John Boland has already transformed his home into a suburban jungle to provide a heat-resistant cover under the plants.

"You might think it's a bit chaotic, but it's actually organised chaos because a lot of things are put in specific places in order to help climate control," he said.

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Boland said he feared Adelaide's increasing population and badly designed homes crammed close to another another would create a heat trap.

"Most Australians just live in expensive tents but it overheats in summer and gets too cold in winter," he said.

The city of Playford, home to some of the most rapidly warming suburbs, said it had taken urgent steps to minimise the effects of climate change.

Staff have increased the number of trees planted across the city and have begun to removal artificial turf that only works to retain heat.

But all levels of government had to come together to invest in making the communities livable well into the future, Mayor Glenn Docherty said.