Potentially record-breaking winter heat in Australia’s centre will carry unseasonably warm temperatures across the country this weekend and into the next week, meteorologists predict.
Temperatures across most of the country except the very far west will sit 4C to 7C above average, including most urban centres in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania, said Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.
Weatherzone has predicted temperatures in most south-eastern capitals will be exceptionally warm for winter on Sunday. It is forecasting 25C in Sydney, 24C in Adelaide, 23C in Melbourne, 21C in Canberra and 19C in Hobart.
Foreshadowing the weekend’s spike in heat, Sydney could reach 26C on Wednesday, eight degrees higher than the average August temperatures of 18C.
The reason for the predicted unseasonal spike, meteorologists say, is a strong high pressure system set to generate record August temperatures in the middle of the country.
Winds will then carry that heat out to other parts of the country.
Alice Springs is forecast to hit 35C on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and may break its record August temperature of 35.2C, Weatherzone says.
South Australian towns in the north of the state may also see records tumble, with Coober Pedy predicted to hit 34C on Saturday – close to its winter record of 34.3. Meanwhile, Oodnadatta is tipped to reach 36C on Friday and Saturday, very close to its winter record of 36.5C.
Hines said the forecast maximum temperatures through southern Northern Territory and northern South Australia would get very close to the warmest on record in August.
“Saturday looks to be probably the warmest day and maybe Sunday we could get close to some records as well,” he said.
“It’s very hard to forecast records in advance, but the temperatures we’re forecasting are … as high as they get pretty much, so [it is] definitely possible we’ll see some records.”
The warmer conditions building in Australia’s centre over the coming days “will get pulled eastwards as the wind starts to shift,” he said.
“It’s going to be above average for the time of year almost everywhere, particularly as we get towards the end of this week and into the weekend.”
Weatherzone said “no records” are likely to be broken in the south due to a relatively weak cold front clipping the south-east, “but it will still feel decidedly un-wintry this coming weekend, which is the last full weekend of winter”.
Jiwon Park, also with the Bureau of Meteorology, said the unseasonal heat is already developing in the Top End and much of the pastoral parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Queensland.
