If this April in Sydney often felt more like mid-summer than mid-autumn, you wouldn't be far off the mark. And there's more out-of-season warmth to come.
Even before the final temperatures for the month settle on Monday, readings for the first 29 days are far enough ahead of previous records to make it certain that April will be Sydney's hottest in almost 160 years of records, Weatherzone says.
"It was a really, really hot month," Kim Westcott, a meteorologist with Weatherzone, said.
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| Temperatures in Sydney this April have been more typical of those in mid-summer. Photo: Janie Barrett |
Up until Monday, average daytime temperatures were running at 26.27 degrees, well ahead of the previous high of 25.6 degrees set almost a century ago in April 1922, Weatherzone said.
A typical April in Sydney would normally post maximum temperatures of 22.5 degrees. The hottest month of the year is usually January when 26 degrees marks an average day, according to Bureau of Meteorology data.
The mercury came close to reaching its forecast top of 21 degrees in Sydney, touching 20.8 decrees. That was just the third day of the month to register a below-average maximum temperature - and not cool enough to make much difference to the new April record.
"Due to a lack of cloud cover, Sydney also experienced about one and a half hours more sunshine than usual per day when averaged across the month," Ben Domensino, a meteorologist with Weatherzone, said.
The Bureau of Meteorology declined to comment on the records, pending the release of the monthly reported expected on Tuesday.
Mild nights too
If anything, the overnight temperatures were even more anomalously mild.
Despite two cooler-than-average days to end the month - the only two during this April - a typical overnight low this month has been about 18 degrees, Weatherzone said.
That tally compares with the previous mildest April for minimums of 16.91 degrees, set in April 1986. A typical April in Sydney has minimums averaging 14.7 degrees.
Rainfall for the city was boosted by a couple of late bursts. The tally, though, was only about 23 millimetres, well shy of the average for the month of 128.5mm.
"This was Sydney’s driest April in 12 years during what is typically the city’s fourth wettest month of the year," Mr Domensino said.
Outlook
The month got off to a roaring start across much of southern Australia, prompting the bureau to issue a special climate statement to highlight the many late-season records falling.
The outlook is for more unseasonably warm - and mostly dry - weather for the most of the first week of May at least.
After Monday, each day for the coming six days is forecast to be 23-27 degrees, or about 3-7 degrees warmer than a typical May day in Sydney.
Nights, though, will be closer to the average of 11.6 degrees usual for this month, although Friday's forecast overnight low of 19 degrees will be particularly mild.
Two cold fronts should arrive across Victoria and southern parts of NSW on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, possibly bringing snow flurries to mountain regions, Ms Westcott said.
Still, "the cold's not likely to get that far north", and make much of a dent in Sydney's readings, she said.
Among April's stand-out events were a record daytime for the month reading of 35.4 degrees on April 9, one of five days above 30 degrees. Another day with 29.9 degrees meant the city fell just short of matching 1922's record number of six days of 30 degrees or warmer days.
Background warming of about 1 degree over the past century caused by climate change - in Australia and globally - makes it much more likely that records for warm days will fall compared with cool ones, the bureau says.
Links
- BOM: Special Climate Statement 65—persistent summer-like heat sets many April records
- Weatherzone
- 'Cooked': Study finds Great Barrier Reef transformed by mass bleaching
- 'It's weird': Return of summer sends plants into confusion
- Sydney heat records get another nudge as south-east Australia sizzles
- Global warming threatens vital ocean current 'tipping point': study
- Record-breaking heatwave settles in over Sydney
- At some point, climate change must be injected into the energy debate
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